NIO announces new ET5 Touring, and it's coming to the UK and Europe

The Touring follows the ET5 sedan which was announced last year for the European market, alongside its bigger brother the ET7 as well as the EL7 electric SUV.

Room

It keeps the ET5's sharp looks and adds more space for passengers, pets and anything they might bring with them. It's still slippery through the air, too, with a drag coefficient of just Cd 0.25.

How much extra space? There's now 450 litres of boot space and 42 litres under the boot floor. The total load space can hit 1,300 litres if the rear seats are folded down, and the car has a low boot lip to make access easy.

The Touring also gives passengers a bit more rrom - with 17mm more headroom and 895mm more legroom for people sitting in the back.

Range and power

The ET5 has front and rear drive from a 150kW induction motor on the former axel and a 210kW permanent magnet motor at the rear. That's good for a total of 360kW or 483bhp and means a 0-100kmh (0-60mph) run of just four seconds, with four piston calipers ensuring it will come to a stop in just 33.9 metres.

Fitted with a 74kWh battery, the car can drive some 434km or 270 miles on a charge. There's an 100kWh pack, too, which sees a huge 560km on a charge (348 miles). They're also capable of being swapped out in double quick time at one of NIO's propreitary Power Swap stations.

NIO is building out its network of these, which allow drivers to stop, swap and drive away in just five minutes without waiting to charge their cars.

The company is expanding this infrastructure in its new European markets, with 20 Power Swap Stations (PSS) delivered by the end of 2022, alongside the launch of its trio of cars. By 2025, NIO's aim is 1,000 of these PSS outside of China - with most, it says, set for Europe. 

Either way, it already has use of an effective network of more than 380,000 chargepoints across the continent.

Tech

LIDAR with 33 sensors and 23 driver assistance and safety features come as standard. AEB and adaptive cruise come as standard with more to come over the air.

There's a 10.2 inch instrument panel and a 12.8 inch AMOLED infotainment screen backed up by a 23-speaker 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos audio system for 3D sound and massaging, heated and ventilated seats.

Sounds a very nice place to be.