The ET7 is the first sedan of the NIO brand and the first car of the second-generation NIO products. The changes and progress of the ET7 compared to the first generation of NIO products can be described with the word huge,this is the first car that makes a difference.
This one is the NIO ET7 premiere version, may not look very big because the body colour is black, but in fact it is more than 5.1m long, the wheelbase also reaches 3m and the long-wheelbase version of the BMW 5-series as long as the car, and the width of the car close to 2m even exceeds that of the BMW 7-series.
External Appearance
From the side of the body, the rear end is designed with a slinky effect to create a certain sense of sportiness, but the front end is not as long as the BMW 5 Series, so this is an advantage for the performance of the interior space. The debut version is equipped with 20-inch wheels on the NIO ET7, which does not look big.
The NIO ET7 still has frameless electric doors that give the whole car a premium look. The most abrupt place is still the three corners of the roof; the middle one is laser radar, and the two sides are cameras. Although it looks a bit strange, the laser radar in this position has its advantages, compared to the arrangement of the front of the car, in the roof of the laser radar to see farther, and will not because of a simple rear-end accident directly scrapped.
Interior styling shifts to minimalist
The exterior of the ETC is relatively well recognised, but the interior is highly controversial. In the first generation of NIO products, from ES8 to ES6 and EC6, the luxury interior is an important selling point, such as air conditioning vents and other details that have exquisite design and decoration. The NIO ET7 completely overturns this luxury concept, with the air conditioning vents becoming hidden and replaced by an elegant minimalist style that is more Scandinavian than Volvo. The Centre console area is of synthetic leather and rattan wood, and the roof is tumbled leather; all materials have a natural touch; the colour is also used in simple colours and creates a gentle feeling.
The interior ambient lighting is quite soft and creates an upscale design. This shows that NIO has always done a good job of capturing consumer preferences in the matter of aesthetics. This is a major change to the interior of the NIO, and the design thinking behind it is that the NIO is just like Tesla. With Autopilot on the horizon, a smart car’s cabin should feel like home rather than like a driving machine.
The result of the minimalist design is that the cabin retains very few physical buttons, and even the buttons for opening and closing the windows have been designed in this flat style. Adjusting the steering wheel and mirrors is done via the centre console in conjunction with buttons on the steering wheel. It’s a bit of an inconvenience indeed, but along with the memory function, you get used to it, and if it’s your own car, you don’t need to adjust it too often.
Central Control Design
The NIO ET7’s cockpit centre control features a 12.8-inch floating touchscreen and 10.2-inch HUD LCD gauges. The core functions of the car are implemented through the vertical screen, and the overall experience is quite good. The screen is sharp and responsive, and the operating logic is very clear. The main body of the home page is the map; below are two commonly used functions of the card; slide to the left, and there are commonly used functions of the shortcut entrance. If you are a little familiar with the function, you can easily find what you want.
One regret is that NIO’s car doesn’t support the free download of APPs, only APPs that have passed NIO’s review and adaptation. However, the APPs that are commonly used in the car are basically available, but as a vertical screen, it has an inherent shortcoming. That is, when you watch a video, the screen is not well utilised, and it is not as comfortable to watch as a horizontal screen.
Seat Space Performance
The front seats are moderately soft and supportive, and there is no problem at all with comfort. The headrests are angled just right so that you can easily lean back on them while there’s plenty of legroom.
The legroom in the rear is generous, and the length and upward angle of the cushions are appropriate for thigh support. The presence of the battery pack makes it difficult to design the vertical space in the back of a pure electric sedan; either the headroom will be very confined, or the sitting position will have a strong bench feeling, and both of these problems are solved by the NIO ET7. The NIO ET7 supports heated, ventilated, and massaged seats throughout the car, and the rear also offers a small screen to control the individual air conditioning, entertainment system, and passenger seat.
Power performance
ET7 is still dual-motor four-wheel drive, front permanent magnet synchronous motor of 180kW, rear induction asynchronous motor of 300kW, total power of 480kW, 100km acceleration of 3.8s from these figures, you know that this car power is very good, and gasoline cars compared to have reached the level of the AITO M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63.
Interestingly, NIO has set many different power levels for the ET7 through different driving modes. The only bit of bad news is that NIO’s Kinetic Energy Recovery isn’t powerful enough, nor does it offer a single-pedal mode.
The height and stiffness of the chassis suspension vary in different driving modes and all support customisation. From the perspective of daily driving, there’s not much to do with this car. In Comfort mode, the ET7 shakes a little when going over larger potholes. In daily driving, you switch to the stiffest suspension of the Sport + mode chassis, the road surface of fine bumps filtering will also filter out, and body sway will be reduced. Steering effort is adjustable in three gears, and there is enough gap between the three gears to satisfy different people’s preferences and habits.
5-minute power change
What needs to be commended is that NIO’s power-swapping experience has been significantly improved compared to before. Now you just need to park your car in the designated space in front of the power exchange station, and the whole process from reversing into the station to completing the power exchange is completely automatic, you just need to press a few confirmation buttons on the screen to achieve five minutes to change the power.
Measured range of over 1000km
On the 17th of December 2023, Li Bin, founder of NIO, set off from Shanghai to take on the challenge of driving a NIO equipped with a 150kWh battery pack in a self-driving “1000km Real EV Range Challenge” live. After 14 hours of hard work, the 150kWh battery range test reached a final score of 1,044 kilometres with 3% of power left!
Summary
The most notable improvement in the NIO ET7 is the significant reduction in energy consumption and a significant increase in range, with the biggest change being the interior styling change. A lot of people like the new interior, including the car’s engine, and the whole cabin experience is great. Though it’s not a great rear ride experience and the storage space is average. The chassis tuning has significant room for optimisation and, as far as value for money is concerned, has never been and is unlikely to be a selling point for the NIO. Rather, it offers the best-in-class service in the automotive industry. Suppose you need to get around the city and run long distances every day. Importantly, you don’t have 1.5 million to buy an RS7, the NIO ET7 is also a good option.
