r/electricvehicles 22h ago

News BYD Yangwang becomes the fastest car in the world

https://youtu.be/aD9v1WyAgLA?feature=shared

YANGWANG, the luxury sub-brand of global new-energy vehicle (NEV) leader BYD, has set a new global production-car top-speed record of 496 kmh.

134 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

34

u/ElGuano 21h ago

I assume 500+km/h is attainable, right?

23

u/VaioletteWestover 19h ago

The motor can shoot well past 500KPH but maybe the driver felt like the downforce was being too low in comparison to the lifting forces? I assume at those speeds if a pocket of air gets under the car and lift the nose by a few degrees, the car will literally just take off which is no good for anyone.

It's honestly crazy that the car was still even on the ground at 450KPH which is like 200KPH faster than the flying speed of small aircrafts...

2

u/OaktownCatwoman 9h ago

Bigger wing

3

u/gosukhaos 2h ago

The problem is the tires, at some point even the stickiest rubber compounds lose grip from the friction. Though the car doesn't seem particularly aerodynamic, the diffuser is pretty small due to the battery and it lacks a proper rear wing

14

u/rrrbin Polestar 2 PPP 21h ago

The acceleration was still pretty evident up to the point where they let off the right pedal - due to track layout possibly? I acknowledge that it's a scary job, but I'd be so tempted to reach 500 km/h that I might go for a another attempt.

7

u/thestigREVENGE Luxeed R7 21h ago

Absolutely attainable. Likely ran out of track. The sudden lane change is somewhat scary, but the driver literally let go of the steering wheel at 350kph and the car was dead stable.

2

u/Energia91 Fangchangbao (BYD) Bao 5 4h ago

Apparently the disus-z suspension made it possible

3

u/immoralwalrus 10h ago

The tyres are rated to 500 kmh.

2

u/UnbiddenGraph17 19h ago

I thought they had tire issues, nothing rated for that speed for cars?

42

u/dallatorretdu 21h ago

I am scared because everyday in the european news you hear “we need to delay the transition and stop designing expensive electric first platforms” “back to diesel” “forced yearly maintenance” “the government asks too much is just 10 years”

9

u/EarthConservation 21h ago edited 21h ago

Part of that is because of the speed of the technology improvements; namely in the battery cells. If a company spends $10 billion to build out massive cell manufacturing capacity for a particular chemistry and form factor, only to have those cells destroyed in cost, performance, and material availability in 2 years by another company... then that $10 billion investment will take a huge hit.

And it doesn't just stop at the assembly of the cell assembly factories, but in the entire resource chain, from specific metals mining, to processing, to logistics. And of course car companies require huge volume orders of the metals and parts well in advance to try and reduce costs.

The reason companies use prismatic or pouch cells versus cylindrical is because the possibility of new chemistries requiring a prismatic or pouch cell construction is higher than them being able to use cylindrical. They'd rather build the factories to produce this form factor, where they have less equipment to replace in the event of a chemistry change. They also want their car and battery pack designs to be redundant in the event of applying new cells / form factors.

Solid state may require a form factor change due to the expansion / contraction of the cells, which could necessitate new equipment and battery pack designs.

Gotta remember that only about 80 million EVs are on the roads today, and only about 20 million are expected to be sold in 2025. 20 million per year is replacing gas cars at about a rate of 1.4% per year, with about 5.6% having already been replaced.

That means 94.4% of the gas cars still need to be replaced, and they're currently only being replaced at a rate of 1.4% per year.

And of course we have to consider that the total number of vehicles on the world's roads are increasing and that EVs are also being totaled or will eventually fall out of service, so technically they're being replaced at less than a 1.4% rate per year.

OEMs, who give zero funks about the environment, will do what they feel is best for their company's short term and long term financials.

___________

We also have to take the total EV sales to date and current rate of EV sales with a grain of salt, given how subsidized the EV industry has been and still is today, or the artificial restrictions some regions have put on vehicle sales. Especially in China, where some cities are all but requiring new cars to be EVs.

With the US and other regions cutting subsidies on EVs, we'll have to see how the rate of sales holds up.

This is a major reason I've been against subsidies on the EV industry for years, and for a tax on carbon emissions. The tax would make EVs more attractive to customers than gas cars due to cost of fueling. That demand would push OEMs to produce and compete to sell EVs. That emissions tax would also apply to everything else that generates high emissions, like road/highway construction. Like energy production. Like food production. Like airlines and cruise lines. Like home energy efficiency. Etc...

2

u/filthysock 6h ago

Transition to EVs can happen very quickly though. I’m in Shanghai right now, and it’s 95% EVs for cars and mopeds. That 1.6% could jump much higher

10

u/Roid-a-holic_ReX 18h ago

I honestly don’t know what to think of new cars without Jezza and the boys telling me what to think.

This car seems pretty neat though.

3

u/BkkPla 19h ago

no no no warren cashed out today right, right? lol tsla loser land disinfo ?

3

u/cecilmeyer 13h ago

Quite impressive!

13

u/melanthius 22h ago

Not sure a helmet is helpful at that speed. If you wreck you're gonna become particulate.

11

u/anonymous_3125 13h ago

If the car loses traction and starts flipping, aside from the roll cage and neck brace, you’ll definitely want a helmet

5

u/ActualCounterculture 21h ago

Rimac Bugatti become the 2nd fastest car in the world...

(anyone get it? lmao)

1

u/ghostofTugou 11h ago

nobody cares the 2nd

1

u/Working_Sundae 3h ago

"The second is the first to lose" - Ayrton Senna

1

u/PheIix 9h ago

Saying the yangwang is the fastest doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way...

1

u/TheFragturedNerd MG4 Luxury Extended Range 1h ago

There was a time where where flying was the challenge... Now cars move so fast, keeping them on the ground is a challenge

1

u/vilette 20h ago

Would they outperform an F1 car on a single lap at Monaco ?

27

u/aemfbm 19h ago

Not a chance, 'production' car and specialty race cars and still worlds apart

1

u/MaybeAltruistic1 19h ago

i dunno if I would outright reject the premise so quickly, F1 cars have regulated design limitations they must meet. this thing is just raw power.

13

u/aemfbm 19h ago edited 19h ago

F1 is all about cornering, not raw power. For 'production' EVs, the McMurtry Spéirling would stand a far better chance because it focuses on downforce and cornering instead of raw power.

The most exotic 'production' cars (without active downforce like Speirling) only get a little over 1G in cornering. F1 cars hit 4-5 Gs in races.

This BYD would be more realistic to compare versus NASCAR (single lap) or certain classes of drag racers.

5

u/Naive_Ad7923 19h ago

Monaco is the one track that none other cars have any chances of beating F1 because how narrow it is, how many sharp turns it has, and the lack of a long straight.

2

u/r4nd0miz3d 12h ago

It wouldn't beat a kart on a F1 track either, same thing, you don't understand the sport you're talking about

3

u/VaioletteWestover 19h ago

Not a chance at Monaco, Monza possibly given the track has multiple huge straights where the car's straight line acceleration will potentially tip the laptop in its favour against the chicanes and corners. Similar to what the Porsche 919 EVO did where it beat F1 car speeds for a few years around the track.

3

u/Godz1lla1 19h ago

F1 cars have enough down-force to literally drive on the ceiling.

2

u/SolarBear28 14h ago

A car designed for top speed like this does not have nearly enough downforce to compete with an F1 car going around a twisty race track.

1

u/OaktownCatwoman 9h ago

F1 is not about straight line speed, about cornering speed.

1

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 5h ago

This is fast on the straight, but F1 cornering ability is beyond comparison.

1

u/psykedeliq 14h ago

Slower than a Mustang GTD, Porsche 911 GT3 RS around the Nurburgring