Assist CleanTechnica’s work by way of a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
Michael was the English identify of our U9 driver on the Zhengzhou All-Terrain Racetrack. He’s a younger man possibly in his 30s, and spoke like a seasoned GTA driver. He mentioned he was a gamer first, honing his observe abilities on a Ps, earlier than actual world coaching and finally being one of many choose U9 check drivers.
The proving grounds session in the usual Yangwang U9 was extraordinarily satisfying, electrical, and speedy.
However after I noticed the recording of the U9 Xtreme in its record-breaking efficiency on the Nürburgring, I knew that Michael was driving at a a lot slower tempo than what the automobile, in its inventory trim, can do. We had been solely maxing out at about 154 km/hr.
“You possibly can go sooner, proper?” I mused.
“We will, however in the mean time, we’re restricted to 154,” Michael mentioned.
“Software program outlined limitation?” I retorted.
“No, by memorandum,” he quipped.
The scissor doorways swing upward just like the wings of some predatory insect, and I’m not simply getting into a automobile — I’m stepping right into a weapon. The carbon-fiber cockpit wraps round me with surgical precision, three large screens glowing with telemetry information that can quickly grow to be very, very related. However proper now, on this second of stillness earlier than the storm, all I can take into consideration are the numbers that hang-out this machine like ghosts of shattered data.
The Structure Of Disruption
Beneath the sculpted bodywork lies one thing unprecedented: a 1200V ultra-high-voltage platform, the primary of its form in mass manufacturing. Consider it because the nervous system of a apex predator — instantaneous, overwhelming, cruel.
4 high-performance electrical motors lurk at every nook, screaming to 30,000 rpm when unleashed. Collectively, they generate over 3,000 PS of uncooked, unfiltered aggression. Do the maths: with a power-to-weight ratio of 1,217 PS per tonne, this isn’t a automobile anymore — it’s a managed detonation on wheels.
The 0-100 km/h dash? The usual U9 does it in 2.36 seconds. The Xtreme does it sooner, although the official time stays categorised. All I do know is that after I mash the throttle, actuality tears on the edges. The G-force doesn’t push me again—it tries to separate my consciousness from my physique.
However straight-line velocity is theater for the simple-minded. The true story occurred elsewhere.
The Day Physics Blinked
One month earlier than its date with future on the Nürburgring, the U9 Xtreme rolled onto the runway at ATP Papenburg with one objective: redefine what “quick” means. When the info was verified, the world took discover — 496.22 km/h (308.33 mph), making it the quickest manufacturing automobile on Earth.
That’s not a velocity. That’s an announcement.
A Prophecy Fulfilled: 6:59.157
However right here’s what separates the pretenders from the legends: anybody with sufficient energy and an extended sufficient runway can go quick in a straight line. The Nürburgring Nordschleife doesn’t care about your runway. It has 73 corners, 20.832 kilometers of elevation adjustments, compression zones, blind crests, and a century of humbled egos embedded in its armco limitations.
On August 22, 2025, German racing veteran Moritz Kranz strapped into the U9 Xtreme and did what no electrical tremendous sports activities automobile had ever carried out: he broke the seven-minute barrier.
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme defeated the Bugatti Chiron Tremendous Sport 300+ to grow to be the world’s quickest manufacturing automobile, attaining a prime velocity of 496.22 km/h (308.4 mph) in comparison with the Bugatti’s document of 490.48 km/h (304.8 mph). It additionally surpassed different earlier document holders, together with the Koenigsegg and Rimac Nevera R, in its record-setting run.
Let’s sort that down once more: 6 minutes, 59.157 seconds.
5 seconds sooner than the earlier document — an eternity at these speeds. And it wasn’t luck or good climate or a fluke. It was engineering domination.
DiSus-X
Do you keep in mind the “futuristic” vehicles in RoboCop? The 6000SUX? Properly, this has nothing to do with it and every thing that sounds prefer it. The SUX wasn’t electrical. Some future that was.
What allowed the Xtreme to dominate the place others merely survived? DiSus-X — the clever body-control system that reads the highway forward and adjusts suspension geometry in real-time. On the Nordschleife’s savage elevation adjustments, it’s not simply managing physique roll; it’s predicting it, compensating for it, and protecting all 4 GitiSport e·GTR² PRO semi-slick tires glued to the asphalt with supernatural precision.
This isn’t typical lively suspension. That is body-attitude management know-how that turns the chassis right into a dwelling, respiration organism that adapts sooner than human reflexes.
Constructed For Velocity
To outlive 13 miles of punishment at racing speeds, the Xtreme obtained complete surgical procedure:
Cooling system: Utterly redesigned to deal with sustained thermal assault. Electrical motors generate monstrous warmth beneath steady load; this technique ensures they by no means flinch.
Braking system: New titanium-alloy carbon-ceramic brakes that chortle at brake fade. While you’re scrubbing velocity from 300+ km/h repeatedly, odd brakes are a dying sentence. These aren’t odd.
Regenerative braking: Captures power throughout deceleration, feeding it again to the track-grade Blade Battery whereas lowering mechanical brake stress. Effectivity as a efficiency weapon.
Battery structure: Supporting discharge charges as much as 30C, this isn’t nearly capability — it’s about sustained, violent energy supply with out thermal collapse.
After punishing the automobile on observe, the 1200V platform reveals its remaining social gathering trick: DC ultra-fast charging at as much as 500 kW. That interprets to 30% to 80% cost in roughly 10 minutes. You’ll spend extra time within the paddock debrief than ready for electrons.
They Construct Your Goals
I used to be informed that if you wish to construct your dream supercar, the Xtreme might be obtainable. Simply cough up about RMB 1.8 million (about $250,000++). Solely 30 models will ever exist. Thirty. The ‘X’ in Xtreme doesn’t simply denote efficiency — it represents the unknown, the unexplored territory past what’s speculated to be doable.
Yangwang’s whole philosophy distilled right into a restricted manufacturing run that can grow to be automotive folklore.
Badass yer desires, yeah.
The Verdict
The Yangwang U9 isn’t simply quick. It’s not simply electrical. It’s a complete demolition of each excuse that’s ever been made about what battery-powered automobiles can’t do. It holds the highest velocity crown. It broke the seven-minute barrier on the world’s most demanding circuit. It combines 3,000 PS with intelligence programs that make that energy usable, repeatable, and completely devastating.
That is what occurs when engineering ambition meets limitless willpower. That is what occurs when an organization decides that “unattainable” is simply one other goal to obliterate.
The scissor doorways shut behind me, sealing me within the cockpit. The screens glow. The motors hum with barely contained fury.
I’m not simply using shotgun anymore. I’m bearing witness to historical past.
Join CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and excessive stage summaries, join our every day publication, and observe us on Google Information!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Need to promote? Need to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Speak podcast? Contact us right here.
Join our every day publication for 15 new cleantech tales a day. Or join our weekly one on prime tales of the week if every day is simply too frequent.
CleanTechnica makes use of affiliate hyperlinks. See our coverage right here.
CleanTechnica’s Remark Coverage
