A Chinese EV maker revealed a 1,300 horsepower supercar [Video]

BYD is a Chinese carmaker that recently unseated Tesla as the world’s leading seller of electric vehicles. Its new all-electric Yangwang U9 has nearly 1,300 horsepower and is designed to compete directly with Lamborghini and Ferrari.

The company says the Yangwang U9 has four electric motors and, with all-wheel-drive, can reach more than 60 miles an hour (97 kilometres an hour) in just 2.3 seconds. It’s priced at 1.68 million Chinese yuan, or about US$230,000 US dollars. That price is similar to relatively entry level supercars, such as a base model Lamborghini Huracán with its 631 horsepower gasoline-powered V10.

As an electric supercar, the Yangwang U9 combines power and performance similar to a 1,800-horsepower, US$2 million Rimac Nevera, but in a package costing less than gasoline-powered cars from the famous Italian automakers.

BYD is best known for more mainstream cars and SUVs like the Dolphin SUV that costs the equivalent of about US$38,000 in Europe or the …