Test Car Specifications
Model: 2024 Nio EL6 100kWh
Price: TBC
Motor: two electric motors (150kW front and 210kW rear)
Transmission: single-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Battery: 100kWh lithium-ion battery
Power: 489hp
Torque: 700Nm
Emissions: 0g/km
Range: 329 miles
0-62mph: 4.5 seconds
Top speed: 124mph
Boot space: 668 litres
Styling
Nio has employed European designers to pen the EL6, and it shows. Clean, modern and aerodynamically efficient, it feels like the product of a European company, rather than a Chinese one. But then you spot the 'taxi light' on the roof and the two little nodules either side, all of which house the apparatus for the car's driver assistance technology. The German designers' natural instinct was to hide these pods in the roofline, but Nio's CEO wanted them on show to demonstrate the car's technology. You decide who's idea was better, but we know which way we'd have gone.
Interior
Given the EL6's focus on technology in the design, it's no surprise to find even greater focus on tech in the cabin. Buttons are remarkably few and far between - there's just a toggle-style gear selector, a couple of buttons on the centre console and a handful on the steering wheel - but screens are everywhere. There's a massive central touchscreen, a la Tesla, and there's a digital instrument display, as well as a head-up display.
In truth, the tech isn't all that spectacular, with a screen that is clearly a Tesla copy and a competent, but hardly ground-breaking instrument display, but it's all good at what it does. And that's important, because there's no Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to be found. Nio wants customers to stick with the proprietary system, which already has Spotify and Google Places included, but you get the sense customers will want greater smartphone integration.
More interesting than all that, however, is the Nomi digital assistant. Offered in a choice of two flavours, it can simply be an assistance system like Siri or Alexa, or it can have a bit more personality. That comes in the form of a digital face - albeit a stylised, smiley one - that follows you around the car, turning to face whoever spoke to it. That's quite disconcerting in itself, particularly with the noise of the actuator motor, but what's worse is the fact it doesn't seem to work that well, ignoring us totally on most occasions. But then we're used to that.
Practicality
On paper, at least, the EL6 is very spacious, and that's backed up by the atmosphere in the cabin. Combine the panoramic glass roof with light upholstery and it feels very fresh and airy, and there's ample space. The car's width - more on that later - means elbow room is more than sufficient and headroom is pretty good too. Rear legroom is also impressive, and the 668-litre luggage bay sounds generous enough too. But we can't work out how Nio arrived at that figure, because the 1,430-litre capacity when the rear seats are folded is a bit nondescript, and with the back seats upright, the boot doesn't feel anything like as big as it claims to be. We can only assume the volume includes the underfloor storage in there. Don't get us wrong, this isn't a massive criticism because the EL6 is still spacious enough, but we were hoping for a bit more capacity.
Performance
Nio will offer the EL6 with a choice of two different battery packs, with a 75kWh option representing the cheaper of the two, while a 100kWh battery will be available at a premium. No matter which you choose, though, you get the same 489hp two-motor powertrain, which combines a 150kW motor at the front and a 210kW motor at the rear. That means the all-wheel-drive EL6 can get from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, but there's more to the system than pure speed.
For starters, the two motors differ in more than just positioning and power. The front motor is, in fact, a different kind of motor that can be disengaged completely when it isn't required, reducing drag and making the car more efficient. It's so efficient that the official figures show the 75kWh battery will offer about 250 miles of range, while the 100kWh battery will take you 329 miles between charges. And don't go thinking those are the pie-in-the-sky figures some manufacturers get from the official test - our test suggested the 100kWh battery should take you 300 miles in the real world, assuming you don't just drive on the motorway and you have a light touch. Even for those who do simply hammer it down the M1, it should happily cover well over 200 miles between trips to the plug.
And when you do plug it in, the battery will charge quickly. The 75kWh battery can charge at speeds of up to 140kW, which means getting from 10 to 80 per cent will take around 40 minutes, while the 180kW charging offered in the 100kWh versions cuts that time to 30 minutes. With the larger battery, however, domestic charging times are extended, with a 7kW wallbox charger filling the 75kWh battery from empty in eight hours, while the same charger will take 12 hours to fill the 100kWh battery.
But the genius of Nio is that you need never charge the battery at all. It isn't quite clear how the system will work in the UK as yet, but the EL6 is capable of having its battery swapped. Unlike most cars, the battery and its housing are not structural, which means you can simply drop the battery out of its hidey hole under the floor, then fit a new, charged one. And Nio has battery swap destinations in China that are capable of doing just that in a matter of minutes. By the time the car gets to the UK, Nio plans to offer a fully automated battery swap in around three or four minutes, with a depleted battery replaced with an (almost) fully charged one. Because of battery longevity concerns, the company won't keep them lying around with a full charge, but it should prove useful for those who can't charge at home or need to cover long distances. And before you accuse Nio of pedalling pipe dreams, remember the firm already has almost 2,000 battery swapping stations worldwide, with around 30 of those in Europe.
Ride & Handling
Nio's focus is clearly on comfort, and though we haven't yet had the chance to sample the car on anything other than the pristine asphalt of southern Germany, the jury remains out in some ways. But the car can only beat what's in under it, and it performed admirably on our test, soaking up the few bumps it faced with aplomb. Perhaps it isn't quite as wafty as some of the very best luxury cars, but it appears more than capable of mixing it with Europe's most popular luxury SUVs.
The catch is that handling isn't quite so impressive, although it still isn't bad. The main issue is the steering which gives the whole experience more of a video game feel than anything, and while that's fine in urban environments, the car's considerable width means town centres aren't always relaxing places to drive. Still, when you get the car into the countryside and put it in Sport or Sport+ mode, the steering weights up and things improve - the body control is reasonable and there isn't too much roll in corners - but it isn't going to give the iX3 too much competition on the handling front.
It can match the best in class when it comes to refinement, however, and the quietness of the cabin is highly impressive. There's a bit of road noise on certain surfaces, but for the most part it's almost silent. Nio hasn't even bothered with the fake motor noises that irritate so much in other cars. And while the overspeed alert system is still annoying - as it is in pretty much any new car you you can always ask Nomi to turn it off for you.
Value
We don't yet know how much the EL6 will cost, mainly because the company hasn't officially confirmed its entry into the UK market. But it's coming, and the pricing in markets where Nio already has a presence - including in Scandinavia and Germany - suggests it'll be punchy. At around the same money as a Mercedes-Benz EQC or a BMW iX3, it'll be competing on features and ability, rather than on price. Fortunately, it gets plenty of standard kit, including Nomi and a crystal clear reversing camera, among others.
Verdict
We can't really pass final judgement on the EL6 until pricing is confirmed and we get a chance to sample that suspension again on UK roads, but the early signs are very promising indeed. Modern, fast and with strong economy and range, it will likely always be a peripheral choice in the market, but it's one with lots going for it - especially if this battery swapping tech comes through.
