NIO? Isn’t that the company that raised a lot of money? Does NIO make cars? Is it more convenient to charge than to refuel? Wasn’t it heavily criticized online?
Whenever I see NIO, these stereotyped questions always come to mind.
With these impressions in mind, I got the ES6 test drive car from the garage during the Labor Day period and started a 3-day test drive journey. Prior to getting ES6, I did not do any research beforehand because I did not want online comments to influence my stance on ES6.
I am the owner of a third-generation RAV4 2.0 and an F22 225i, and have rented or borrowed many different fuel cars at different price points and engine displacements.
However, in terms of electric cars, I have only briefly experienced the very bad driving experience of the Model S. Since I am not a professional media, there may be missing pictures or videos in this article. I hope everyone can forgive me. Next, I will share my test drive experience with you.
High turn-around rate and strong sense of technology
ES6 adopts hidden door handles and keyless entry design. When the driver approaches the vehicle, the door handle will automatically pop out. This design dispelled my doubts about the usefulness of hidden door handles.
However, NIO did not design a good program for locking the car when leaving, so it cannot automatically lock after a certain distance away from the vehicle. The feeling of “walk away carefreely…disappointedly … press the lock button silently” is a bit lost.
Later, I found that pressing the door handle can also lock the car, but this design always gives me a feeling of having keyless entry, but no one-button start.
The appearance of the car is always a matter of opinion, and everyone has their own aesthetics, but one thing can be certain, ES6 is a car with a very high turn-around rate.
I got a test drive car in “same temperature blue”. The blue creates a full sense of technology. During the trial driving process, whether it was because of NIO’s brand effect or the appearance of the car, passers-by have stopped and looked more than once.
Overall, this is an SUV with a very high sense of technology and a high turn-around rate.
The interior is full of technology
The sense of technology of ES6 begins from when you approach the vehicle. When you approach the vehicle, ES6 enters the welcome mode, and the lights automatically turn on, the hidden door handles pop out, and the handshake interaction experience makes you feel very honored.
When you open the car door and sit in the car, you have to say that the interior design of ES6 is very unique. Both the driver and passenger seats use an enveloping design. The central control panel uses a multi-strip-through design and perfectly hides the air outlet. The central control button control panel is slightly tilted upwards, and the driver’s hand can naturally rest on the center armrest for operation. The texture of buttons and knobs is above the same level of cars.
Both the upper and lower areas of the center console are wrapped in genuine leather, and even the knee position is wrapped in NAPPA leather, which feels top-notch. The car’s ceiling is made of microfiber material, which feels very delicate to the touch and has a high-quality feel.
As a lover of old gasoline cars, my long-held stereotype of Chinese-made car interiors is: there will always be some design resembling something from BBA (Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi), but when I sat in the ES6, I quickly searched through my mental car library and found that no element of the interior design, from the center console to the steering wheel, matched any of the designs in my mind. I admit that my preconceptions were completely shattered.
Interior design and materials are not something you necessarily expect from a BMW, but quietly, I have to say that the design of the ES6’s interior, both visually and tactilely, gave me great satisfaction. It’s really great.
I usually can’t help but feel disdain for the trend of massive screens in cars today, but thanks to the ES6’s interior design language, the central screen doesn’t seem too conspicuous in this car, but instead feels like a well-placed feature.
I rarely praise the interior of a car as “full of high-tech,” even in an Audi, I harshly believe that it’s not enough, but when I think of the label for the NIO’s interior, besides luxury and refinement, the only remaining word is high-tech, especially in the handling of key details, which will be discussed in more detail below.
Excellent steering wheel grip
The ES6’s steering wheel features a three-piece design different from the ES8, with a sturdy and delicate leather feel, a clear and reasonable layout of multifunctional buttons, and an excellent grip. Especially the NP (NIO Pilot) startup button is simple and easy to understand, and my father, who has never driven an electric car, learned how to operate it in under three seconds, so this deserves a big thumbs up.
In addition, the steering wheel in this car comes with an optional heating function. Even though Shanghai has already entered summer, my curiosity drove me to press the steering wheel heating button. The heating speed is acceptable, and the large heating range is well regarded. The upper part of the steering wheel can also feel the temperature. I think it will provide a lot of comfort in winter.
The ES6’s seats also use NAPPA leather, which is soft and comfortable. The front seats are wide, with support on the sides and long enough seat cushions to fully support my thighs.
However, precisely because the seats are so large, even though there is already lateral support, my 140-pound body still cannot be well wrapped in the seat, and the seat cannot restrain my body well during intense driving. If it were made adjustable, it would certainly be better.The front seats of ES6 have a high sitting position, which I personally dislike, even if the seats are adjusted to the lowest position, it still feels like my feet are pushing downwards.
The back seats can barely receive a good review. The seat cushion is long enough, the backrest angle is appropriate, and the filling in the middle seat is surprisingly soft. The only problem is that the angle of the back seats is not adjustable.
ES6 generously offers heating for all four seats as well as ventilation for the front seats. In terms of configuration and family care, ES6 does a great job.
Although the heating speed of the ES6 seats is not as fast as my 225, the area is large enough and it doesn’t affect driving.
The air conditioning of ES6 cools down quickly. On the day I picked up the car, the temperature in Shanghai had already reached 35°C. When I got into the car with the key, the air conditioning had already been turned on in advance, so I did not feel the expected “steaming car” but instead felt a hint of coolness.
The design of this kind of comfort deserves a good review. The air conditioning of ES6 cools down quickly. In auto mode, the air volume is also large, which can quickly reduce the temperature inside the car.
In terms of driving-related parts, the size of the rearview mirror of ES6 is very large, and the field of vision is very good, and it supports blind spot alert.
ES6 supports 360-degree surround view, but the resolution is not as good as expected, it is just enough, and the automatic on and off logic is average. Many times the vehicle has entered a narrow area but the surround view did not turn on automatically. The detection of objects around the car is not as sensitive as expected. After consulting my friends at NIO, I found out that the condition for activating the narrow road auxiliary is when the speed is less than 18 km/h, and the distance between the front of the car and the obstacle is between 50-80 centimeters. I hope NIO can add a convenient button to turn it on.
After seeing too many poorly designed wireless charging pads, I feel comfortable placing and removing my phone on the wireless charging pad of ES6. What’s more interesting is that when I place the car key on the wireless charging pad, the car key will have a breathing light around it, which is fun.In terms of interior design and feature configurations, ES6 has some minor flaws, such as the low resolution of 360-degree surround-view camera and the absence of physical buttons for the hill descent control feature. Although it has NOMI, it is still difficult to activate in an emergency. However, these details are still acceptable for experienced drivers like me. Considering its interior design and materials, I would like to give it a big thumbs up overall.
Good passenger space and large storage space
At first, I thought ES6, as a smaller SUV in the NIO family, would have a similar positioning to a compact SUV.
However, when I got the car, I admit that the size of 4850/1965/1758 mm surprised me, which is bigger than the medium-sized luxury SUVs in the same price range. This made me have unlimited imagination about the internal space of ES6.
The front space of the medium-sized SUV is naturally outstanding, especially the co-pilot seat, which can easily allow the “queen” with long legs to stretch out.
But when the rear space of various luxury SUVs is awkward, how does NIO ES6 perform?
In addition to the larger appearance, ES6’s rear space is also suitable for the adjective “large”. Whether it is headroom or legroom, you will not feel cramped.
I am 171 cm tall, and after adjusting the driver’s seat to a normal sitting position and sitting in the back seat, when I sit upright, there is about one and a half fists of spare headroom. Although it is a black roof, the large panoramic sunroof makes the space not feel depressed, basically at a normal level.
But compared to the normal headroom, the legroom is basically abundant. Since I prefer a reclining driving posture, it may cause the reclining angle of the front seat backrest to be slightly larger, which will erode the rear space.
However, in this ES6, the rear legroom still has a near-category performance, and the floor of the rear row is flat, so even the passengers in the middle seat of the rear row will not feel that their feet have nowhere to place, and the cushion of the middle seat is also relatively soft.
A large space is not all about rear seat comfort, the performance of the seat is more important.
This set of seats in ES6 has a rear seat cushion length that only supports my height, and I think for males who are taller, they may not have good support for their thighs. In addition, the reclining angle of the rear seat backrest is not adjustable, but fortunately, the original factory’s backrest angle is relatively comfortable, and I will not delve into the non-adjustability further.
After discussing the “space for people”, will ES6 also have outstanding storage space?Except for the two regular cup holders in the middle, the front storage space of NIO ES6 is divided into four areas: the storage space on both sides of the door, the central armrest, and the area under the center control panel. Each area looks extraordinary.
Especially the huge storage space under the center control panel, the two-layer design of the central armrest, the bottom is a huge and deep storage space. As described by Chang Lao, it feels like it can hold a 1.5-liter bottle of cola and still have room.
The storage space on the door panel is rich, but unfortunately, there is no compartment. There is only a stand for water bottles. There is no design constraint for water bottles. Even if the inclination angle is large, it will not tip over when braking, but it will produce an uncomfortable sound. I think if this area is compartmentalized more carefully, the space utilization will be higher.
Let’s take a look at the performance of the trunk.
The ES6 trunk has a larger opening, and when loading cargo, the rear suspension height can be lowered due to the air suspension, increasing the convenience of loading, which is worthy of praise.
In normal mode, the ES6 trunk is basically in line with expectations. Since we are not professional media and have not made accurate measurements, at least the size of the trunk has not caused any flaws. In addition, the trunk supports two ways to expand the space, the rear seats support a 4:6 ratio fold down, and the bottom of the trunk can be placed down to increase the height of the trunk.
There are also small storage compartments and hooks on both sides of the trunk, and there are some storage spaces under the cover board for commonly used tools, which fully meet the daily needs of family use.
The only small flaw is that the trunk light is relatively small, and the lighting effect at night is not good enough.
Driving experience needs improvement
Since NIO has preset FOTA burying points for the entire ES6, the following opinions only apply to version 2.5.0.
After all, the car is not for viewing or touching. As the saying goes, a mule is brought out for a walk. Is this ES6 really worth 400,000 yuan when you start driving it?This performance version ES6 is equipped with a front permanent magnet motor and a rear induction motor, which can generate a maximum power of 400 kW and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds. Due to some limitations during the test drive, let’s briefly talk about the daily driving experience instead of extreme conditions.
Although this ES6 weighs over two tons and has a huge body, surprisingly, the throttle is very light and controllable in both comfort and sport modes. The throttle response is light yet not too sensitive.
Especially in sport mode, my right foot can easily control the opening of the throttle, making the acceleration of the vehicle very controllable, which is very unexpected.
This may also be related to my long-term driving experience with my old RAV4, which optimized the throttle response to be light and sensitive. Moreover, the braking system of ES6 is also very linear during daily driving. The braking force is released as the depth of the pedal plate increases, which gives drivers a lot of confidence in stopping this two-ton heavy object.
ES6’s throttle and brake response, as well as sensitive control, must be highly praised.
As for regenerative braking, in comfort mode, there is a noticeable drag when releasing the throttle. For me, who frequently drives gasoline cars, it took some time to adapt. However, after just one night, I was able to manipulate the throttle and brakes smoothly, without jerky feeling to the passengers.
In sport mode, when the most aggressive 4.7-second acceleration mode is activated, the regenerative braking is set to minimum so that normal driving is almost indistinguishable from driving a gasoline car. Friends who frequently drive gasoline cars will almost feel no jerky feeling while slamming on the brakes in sport mode.
The steering wheel has an electronic power-assisted steering, and the steering damping can be adjusted according to different driving modes. Even in comfort mode, even a girl can control the direction very easily.
During city driving, I did not feel any significant emptiness on the steering wheel of ES6, but it lacked some road feeling, and the road feeling was somewhat blurry, probably due to its positioning as a family car.
Regarding the chassis, the performance version of ES6 is equipped with an air suspension, which can automatically adjust the height in different driving modes.
When driving on the ramp, I deliberately tried to maintain a fast speed to pass through. ES6’s lateral support was very good, and there was almost no leaning inside the car. It could even be stronger than the chassis of my F22 2 series. For a mid-size SUV, the suppression of lateral tilting is indeed in place.
The suspension of the ES6 gives a sense of advancement when dealing with rough and bumpy roads, but the filtering of aftershocks is mediocre. Some unnecessary shaking occurs inside the car, which, for my part, can only be considered as a passing grade.
It has to be said that traditional manufacturers still have very strong skills in chassis tuning, and NIO still has room for improvement in this area.
It is said that after optimizing the suspension CDC component through FOTA, the suspension experience under the OS2.6.1 version is good. I am really looking forward to the growth of vehicles in the era of “intelligence”.
Range and Battery Charging Efficiency
Due to time constraints, there was no opportunity to test the ES6’s range with a 70-degree battery. The long-distance range and display range below are for reference only.
Driving from Shanghai Wildlife Park to LCM Xuhui Plaza on a day with a temperature of 24°C, with the air conditioning set at 22.5°C for the entire trip. About 50% of the journey was on high-speed elevated roads. The actual mileage driven was 33.7 km and the remaining range displayed was decreased by 41 km, a range reduction that was within an acceptable range.
The one thing electric vehicles cannot escape is the need for frequent charging. The ES6 has both AC and DC charging plugs located on the left and right sides behind the front wheel arches, and it supports one-button swap at battery swap stations.
First of all, the speed at which a battery can be swapped by one-button swap at the swap station is very fast. It takes around 7-8 minutes from the moment the attendant drives the car in to the time the swap is complete. This was far beyond my expectation, and combined with the waiting time for the preceding car, the entire process took no more than 20 minutes.
However, the convenience of charging an electric vehicle compared to refueling a petrol car still has a long way to go. The only hidden worry is the popularity of battery swap stations and the waiting time in the future when the number of vehicles increases.
Yet, through battery swaps, battery hardware upgrades can be achieved. Personally, I am looking forward to the experience of using the 100 kWh battery pack that will be launched in the fourth quarter, coupled with the battery swap system.
Next is the charging process, and there are already many detailed evaluations of the charging speed online, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I’ll just mention one problem I discovered.
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Due to the large size of the car and the charging port located at the front of the vehicle, the cable at some charging stations is too short. To reach the charging port, the car has to be parked with the front end sticking in and diagonally in the parking space, which makes it difficult to charge if there are cars on both sides.
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The lack of a lighting system in the charging port makes it difficult to operate at night, and the charging port can be difficult to locate.
ES6 Details
The chassis is too high and the angle of the rear door opening is slightly small, especially in situations where there are cars on both sides, it can be embarrassing for female passengers to get off on the co-pilot’s side. If an electric pedal can be added, it can greatly increase the convenience of the mistress and elderly people getting on and off the car. (Editor’s note: OS 2.6.1 version can adjust the suspension height, and the vehicle will automatically lower the height before getting on and off. )
The material and texture of the steering wheel are very good, and the grip feels sturdy. Nitpicking, the raised position of the thumb at 10 and 2 o’clock on the steering wheel is too high. I need to move my entire palm up to comfortably place my thumb. On this point, BMW’s M sports steering wheel on the F chassis is done very well and it does not affect my operation of the multifunction buttons on the steering wheel.
The design of the turn signal and windshield wiper control stalk has a slight feel of being rough due to the protruding outer ring.
Summary
Seeing is believing, hearing is not.
After experiencing the ES6, there are only eight words to summarize my feelings about NIO. A domestically produced electric car costing around 400,000 yuan gave me a great sense of shock. It broke my stereotype of domestically produced and electric cars: copying, cheapness, and piling up configurations.From ES6, we can feel NIO’s determination to make a good car, especially in terms of configuration, material selection, and tuning of brakes and throttle. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of detail control and chassis tuning.
But regardless, after feeling NIO’s original aspiration to make a good car, as an old-fashioned fuel car enthusiast, my attitude towards NIO quietly changed.
The above-mentioned criticisms, as a non-owner, I think I can accept them, and even FOTA has increased my expectations for the evolution of future vehicles.
Shortly after my test drive, the latest version of FOTA update for ES6 was released, which focused on improving the filtering and shock absorption performance of the air suspension. Although this made my previous experience with the chassis a thing of the past, it also made me very excited.
I deeply feel that although the future may not necessarily belong to electrification, it is foreseeable that: the future will definitely be an era of electrification and intelligence, and the century-old steel mechanical products can also have a life.
In any case, wish NIO all the best, and the future is promising.
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.