Nio EP9 set to electrify Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood Festival of Speed attendees will have the chance to see the Nio EP9 strut its stuff. The Chinese electric supercar will partake in the event's hillclimb challenge, the company announced on Monday.

Scottish racing driver Peter Dumbreck will pilot the EP9. Dumbreck drove the EP9 electric car to its record-setting Nürburgring lap time of 6:45.90 for street-legal cars. The time shattered previous records set by the Radical SR8 LM and Pagani Zonda R, which managed times of 6:48.28 and 6:47.50, respectively.

Those on the western side of the globe may not know much of Nio, but the Chinese company has big plans. After securing the inaugural FIA Formula E title in 2015, Nio set out to build the EP9 electric supercar. The car features four electric motors delivering a combined 1,342 horsepower and 1,091 pound-feet of torque. The power will rocket the EP9 from 0-60 mph in 2.7 seconds to a top speed of 195 mph.

Following the supercar, Nio introduced its first mass-market vehicle, the ES8 electric SUV in China last December. Starting at roughly $68,000, the electric SUV returns an estimated 220 miles of range with its dual-electric motors and 70-kwh battery pack. Nio also has plans to offer battery swapping in as little as three minutes. Such a service would render the ES8's electric driving range moot question. Of course, the company has to build the infrastructure to make that service viable. Deliveries of the SUV will begin this year, Nio reiterated in the Monday announcement.

As for the EP9 supercar, Nio originally intended to build six examples with a price tag of $1.48 million each. However, last year, the Chinese brand said it would build 10 more. It's unclear if any copies will ever make their way to the United States.