BYD's luxury brand Yangwang breaks 500 km/h barrier with electric hypercar U9X

Yangwang, the luxury brand of global electric vehicle maker BYD, announced Monday that its electric hypercar, the U9 Extreme (U9X), has set a new top-speed record of 503.17 km/h, surpassing the brand's own previous mark.

The run was officially recognized as two Guinness World Records — fastest one-way speed for a production car and fastest one-way speed for an electric production car — and was also certified by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The new figure eclipses the 496.22 km/h the U9X recorded at Germany's ATP Papenburg test track in September last year.

The record run took place Nov. 1 on a closed section of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed International Road (E11) in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Sports car and endurance racing specialist Marc Basseng, who drove the U9X to its previous record at the ATP Papenburg track in September last year, was again behind the wheel.

Speed was measured using the vehicle's onboard speedometer and a high-precision VBOX data logger. An FIA official reviewed the data and formally confirmed the result to Guinness World Records.

Breaking the 500 km/h barrier has long been one of the automotive industry's most coveted technical milestones. Yangwang, drawing on BYD's electric motor and battery technology, pushed a production car past that threshold just three years after launching the U9 project.

BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li said she has always described the company's engineers as "young, bold and, in the best possible sense, a little crazy." "Even as the team was celebrating the 496.22 km/h record in Germany last year, they were already analyzing data and discussing how to push the U9X further," she said. "This is a fantastic achievement and a result that raises the performance ceiling of pure electric drive technology even higher."

Driver Marc Basseng said every detail matters at extreme speeds. "None of this would have been possible without the engineering team at Yangwang," he said. "I'm proud to be part of showing the world just how far electric vehicle technology can go."

The U9X has also demonstrated strong circuit performance beyond its top-speed credentials, lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes, 59.157 seconds.

Yangwang's engineers fitted each of the U9X's four wheels with an independent electric motor and significantly upgraded each unit's specifications. A single motor delivers up to 30,000 rpm and a peak output of 755 horsepower (555 kW).

The combined peak output of all four motors reaches 3,019 horsepower — more than twice that of the standard U9 — giving the car a power-to-weight ratio of 1,217 horsepower per ton.

The U9X builds on BYD's Blade Battery technology, retaining a space-efficient cell structure and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. BYD noted that LFP batteries can deliver stable output across a wider state-of-charge (SOC) range than nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries. The car pairs that chemistry with a 1,200-volt platform to enhance discharge performance, thermal management and regenerative braking.

According to BYD, the U9X's battery cell power density is 170 percent higher than that of an 800-volt system, with a maximum discharge rate of 30C — up to 10 times that of a standard electric vehicle battery and twice that of other electric supercars. A 30C discharge rate means the battery can theoretically be fully discharged in about two minutes.

Notably, the system can sustain a peak output of 1,800 kW even when the battery state of charge drops to 20 percent. Maximum regenerative braking output exceeds 700 kW.

Yangwang also collaborated with GT Tires to develop semi-slick tires optimized for track use, drawing on data gathered during high-speed runs and record attempts in Germany to ensure tire performance and durability under extreme conditions.

The first production-spec Yangwang U9X model, named "Dawn Moment," was unveiled at this year's Beijing Auto Show.

A Yangwang official said the U9X is a limited-production model built to reflect both the development team's technical ambitions and each customer's individual preferences. "Only 30 units will be produced worldwide, and some customers have already finalized their custom specifications and entered the contract and production scheduling phase," the official said.