Original from Liu San 42 GarageApril 19
The NIO ES8 was delivered in May 2018. After 685 days of production and updates, the reputation of the ES8 has experienced both rocket-like rises and cliff-like declines. There are many people who are bearish on NIO, but there are also many who believe in NIO. In terms of sales, NIO ES8 has delivered 20,480 new cars from May 2018 to December 2019, setting a sales record for luxury cars of domestic brands.
Now, the new ES8 has arrived. Can NIO, with more experience, recreate the miraculous sales record?
After the test, we can draw a conclusion that NIO has made targeted adjustments to the new ES8 for the market demand of “large and medium-sized SUV”, that is, the new ES8 is a product that is more in line with this market demand, which is reflected in two aspects: “more comfortable” and “more luxurious”.
Next, let’s take a look at the changes between the new and old ES8, from the exterior to the interior, and where “comfort” and “luxury” are reflected.
01 How to distinguish between new and old ES8 from exterior details?
Compared with the old ES8, the new ES8 has no significant changes in appearance. If you don’t look closely, it is difficult to distinguish whether the car on the road is a new or old ES8.
Therefore, we will not spend too much time introducing the exterior design of the new ES8, as it has already become a common sight on the road. Instead, we will focus on how to distinguish between the old and new ES8 based on exterior details.
The main exterior changes between the old and new ES8 are concentrated in five areas.
First, the X-Bar on the front face and the closed grille on both sides have been slightly adjusted, and the overall shape of the front face of the new ES8 appears more aggressive than the old model.
Second, matte silver chrome decoration strips have been added below the front and rear fog lights.
Third, a red decoration strip has been added below the “ES8” emblem on the tail.
Fourth, the style of the taillights has been optimized, and the length of the high-level brake lights has been increased. According to official data, the length of the new ES8’s high-level brake lights is 924 mm.
Fifth, the old ES8’s rear spoiler and D-pillar decor panel are designed as separate parts, while the new ES8’s rear spoiler and D-pillar decor panel are designed as a single unit.
Left: Old model. Right: New model.
In addition to the above five changes, the charging port of the new ES8 has also been upgraded to the same electrically-controlled design as the ES6, enabling automatic opening when using a dedicated charging pile (NIO home charging pile) and improving the charging experience.
These are the main exterior changes of the new ES8, and it is also the area with the smallest changes in this ES8 facelift. Although the two on-site cars are still trial models, the overall workmanship has reached a very high level, with small and uniform joints between the sheet metal parts and very fine paint finish.
Finally, here are two real shots of the Antarctic blue car paint.
02 Material stacking also has a method, the new ES8 is “more” luxurious
The interior is the biggest change in the new ES8 and also an area that showcases “luxury”. In short, it takes ES6 as a foundation and advances further.
The design still retains the original style, and the buttons on the steering wheel adopt the same layout as ES6. Compared with the old model, the button area is larger, the quantity is smaller, the operation logic is simpler. The steering wheel retains the 2-design style and has a distinction from the 3-design in ES6.
The instrument screen has been upgraded from the original 10.4 inches to the same 11.3 inches as ES6. However, the new ES8 has a bigger upgraded size than ES6; it has been increased from the original 8.8 inches to 9.8 inches. The most intuitive feeling is that the border on both sides is narrower.
Regarding configuration, the new ES8 has three major changes.
Firstly, a fragrance system has been added. For a luxury car, the fragrance system is an important configuration to enhance the interior quality.
The fragrance system of ES8 and the air conditioning system are two separate systems. This means that the fragrance released will not be affected by the air conditioning, and the Blue Sky Coming around the center console screen is the fragrance outlet.
Secondly, the footrest on the Queen’s co-pilot side has been upgraded to electric retractable, which used to be electrically lowered and manually retracted in the old model. At the same time, the position of the leg rest on the Queen’s co-pilot side has also been slightly adjusted to reduce the impact on the co-pilot passenger when fully retracted.
Thirdly, NOMI Mate has been upgraded to version 2.0. The screen of the 2.0 version of NOMI Mate adopts AMOLED full-circle screen, and the mechanical components inside have also been upgraded. When NOMI turns its head, the noise brought by the motor and gear will be much lower.
However, it is regrettable that the trial car experienced this time is still version 1.0, and the first batch of deliveries will still be version 1.0. This is not because the development work is not completed, but because the supplier of the AMOLED screen is in Wuhan, Hubei province and is affected by the epidemic, causing a delay in mass production and unable to be installed on the cars in a timely manner. NIO stated that it will be replaced in a timely manner after the parts are available later.
Regarding the choice of materials, it can be seen from the old ES8 that NIO is a crazy material stacker. However, in the new ES8, NIO is more sophisticated and more aware of “luxury”.
Some minor changes:
Even the area below the glove box, which is not usually touched, is wrapped in Nappa leather for the NIO ES8.
As for space and seats, both the new and old ES8 have the same specifications. With a length of 5022mm and a wheelbase of 3010mm, the space in the front and rear seats is very spacious. even with the third-row seats opened, the trunk space can still meet daily needs.
In terms of interior materials, workmanship, space and configuration, the new ES8 completely justifies its price of 500-600 thousand yuan. At the event, I asked several old ES8 owners if they were envious of the new ES8 interior. Their response was: “It’s okay. The biggest improvement in the new ES8 ‘quality’ is the central control screen and ultra-fine suede ceiling, and these two configurations can also be upgraded by appointment through the APP, so there is no particular envy.”
03 “Comfort” is what the ES8 should be
On the old ES8, NIO hoped to leave a high-end first impression in consumers’ minds through the “high performance” feature. Therefore, in 2017, NIO chose two 240 kW AC asynchronous motors, allowing a nearly 2.5-ton large SUV to achieve 4.4 seconds of 0-100 km/h acceleration, but at the cost of 70 kWh battery and a NEDC range of only 355 km.
“It is not that ‘performance’ is not important for a large 7-seat SUV, but the premise of achieving ‘performance’ is sufficient endurance and sufficient comfort. After all, this is a large 7-seat SUV, and its purpose is to enjoy a comfortable trip with the family.”
After the old ES8 completed its mission of defining the brand, NIO’s engineers made targeted adjustments to the new ES8.
In terms of power, the new ES8 adopts the same powertrain as the ES6, a front 160 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor + a rear 240 kW AC asynchronous motor, with a maximum output power of 400 kW and a maximum torque of 725 N·m. Although the maximum output power of 480 kW and maximum torque of 840 N·m of the old model have decreased to a certain extent, this is already a very outstanding parameter for any SUV.
The new ES8 has an acceleration of 4.9 seconds per 100 kilometers, which is 0.5 seconds slower than the old model. However, it is difficult to feel the difference in daily driving, even with relatively aggressive driving.
The benefit of the small electric motor is that, with the same 70 kWh battery, the old ES8 had a range of only 355 km under the NEDC test cycle, while the new ES8 can reach 415 km, an 18% improvement.
In addition, the new ES8 has a faster power response compared to the old ES8. The old ES8 had a very slight delay in power output when the accelerator was fully pressed due to the torque being too large and the vehicle being too heavy to protect the semi-axle. The new ES8 uses a one-piece semi-axle with higher load-bearing capacity, so the response is faster.
However, I think there is still room for improvement in throttle calibration for the new ES8. Under comfort and sport modes, the power mainly concentrated on the first two-thirds of the accelerator pedal. The accelerator pedal is too sensitive in daily driving, which makes the driver feel a little tired when driving and is not particularly energy-saving. This is also a problem that exists on the ES6.
Regarding braking, the new ES8 also uses Brembo’s four-piston customized calipers (front). However, two of the four pistons on the old model were 44 mm in diameter and the other two were 40 mm, while the new ES8 upgraded to four 44 mm pistons, with a stopping distance of 33.8 meters at 100 km/h.
At the same time, the new ES8 uses the iBooster 2.0 brake booster system. Compared with the 1.0 system used on the old ES8, the 2.0 system can combine energy recovery with the brake pedal. In other words, energy recovery can slow down the car in most cases, and mechanical braking intervention is only required in emergency braking or stopping.
The advantage of this is obvious: to maximize energy recovery, improve range, and according to NIO engineers, the range can be improved by around 10% under the same driving mode.
In terms of brake pedal response, there has been some improvement compared to the old ES8 and ES6. The entire brake pedal range has a very linear foot feel, without the previous paragraph sense, and the output of brake force is also relatively linear. Even in emergency braking situations, there is no “foot topping” phenomenon after ABS intervention.After mentioning the advantages, there are some issues to consider. The foot feel of the brake pedal on ES8 is a bit light, and the front brake force is weak. This calibration doesn’t cause any problems for users who are accustomed to driving with a single pedal; most deceleration can be accomplished by releasing the acceleration pedal, and the brake pedal is rarely used. However, for users who are accustomed to driving internal combustion engine cars, this brake feel may make them a bit nervous.
The new ES8’s hardware in the chassis is no different from the old ES8’s, it also has a front double-wishbone and rear multi-link structure with air suspension. However, NIO has recalibrated the software.
The new suspension calibration emphasizes a comfortable style. There is almost no vibration transmitted to the steering wheel and inside the car when driving on a road joint, only a couple of thuds can be felt when driving over speed bumps. The suspension has already absorbed most of the undulations caused by the speed bump, and only a small amount of vibration is transmitted to the car’s body. Even when driving over some large continuous bumps, the ride is still pretty smooth, without the side-to-side shaking experienced on the old model. Regardless of the driving or riding experience, there is a certain improvement in the “comfort” category.
Old ES8 users need not be envious. The chassis driving experience will be improved in the upcoming NIO OS 2.6.0 OTA upgrade.
Regarding the steering, in the comfort mode, the steering damping is relatively light, and daily driving is very easy. In sport mode, the damping is significantly heavier, but there is a slight neutral position in the early stage. In both comfort and sport modes, the steering damping and turning angle as well as vehicle speed gain are linearly increased, and like the chassis, it belongs to a “comfort” orientation calibration.
NIO ES8’s tuning style has changed from being sporty to being more towards comfort, accurately positioning and more user-friendly. Although the overall dynamic performance is still somewhat behind traditional car companies, it has reached a level almost comparable to that of the same level model, keep in mind that ES8 is a model that weighs close to 2.5 tons, and requires a very high level of skill from suspension calibration engineers.
Finally,
Many new Chinese auto manufacturers’ first products have yet to be mass-produced, and the NIO ES8 has already undergone its first revision and was delivered to its first batch of users on April 19th, 2020.NIO, which launched its first vehicle in 2017, has gone through many difficulties, such as software problems and unsatisfactory range performance. Its experience has shown other new automakers the challenges of making “smart electric cars” and what the market really demands. However, the company has utilized this valuable experience for the upgraded ES8 model. The new ES8 compromises its performance for range, emphasizes the importance of regenerative braking, tunes the suspension for Chinese drivers’ preference for comfort, and finally, pays much more attention to its interior design.
I am pleased to see a Chinese automaker producing such a comfortable, luxurious, and intelligent car within just five years. Although NIO’s intelligence technology is not yet on a par with Tesla’s, it has surpassed most traditional gasoline-powered cars with the brand new ES8, which boasts much better performance and configurations.
During the test drive, I briefly talked with the test driving instructor, who commented that NIO had done a great job in creating a sense of luxury, and that the large control screen made it very convenient for them to find various settings. Many experienced test driving instructors, however, criticized the densely packed physical buttons and almost useless central control screens found in traditional vehicles. As for the driving sensation, the instructors agreed that although the new ES8 was not yet comparable to top-class vehicles, it had already exceeded the second-tier vehicles.
As for the range issue, it will be naturally resolved once the company starts producing 100 kWh batteries. For NIO, the only issue is that the ES8, as a medium-large electric SUV, is still a niche market. Unless the price can be further reduced, it will be difficult to achieve remarkable sales figures.
I don’t want to debate whether NIO still has hope. I just wish the company keeps going strong.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.