The results of 2nd batch C-NCAP crash test in 2019 were officially announced in the middle of this month. In this batch of crash tests, three vehicles from Chinese start-up car companies participated in the test and all achieved good results in the “5-star evaluation”. These Chinese emerging brands have also made great efforts in the active and passive safety of automobiles. Today we will take a look at how NIO ES8 got five-star rating in the C-NCAP crash test.

NIO’s vehicle safety team is currently distributed in China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, not only for the relevant standards of the Chinese market collision regulations, but also on the basis of the standards of the European and American markets.

For example, C-NCAP does not have side pole crash test, which is only available in Europe’s E-NCAP, but during the development phase, the NIO team did this to make the vehicle meet the rigorous safety standards, the following video is the European standard side pole crash test made by NIO ES8 in the product verification phase.

Due to the high quality of the battery group of the electric car, NIO ES8 uses lighter weight of aluminum alloy material on the body structure in order to reduce the weight of the car body as much as possible, and selects an aviation class 7000 series aluminum alloy on the core components such as the stringer. the weight of the car shell is only 335KG

In addition to the material selection of car body, the welding process of the body is also very particular. Since the body is made up of a large number of aluminum alloy materials, up to 8 different welding processes are used on the NIO ES8 to fix these parts and secure them to combine them together.

Full-scale Frontal Crash Test

In the full-scale frontal crash test, the front row of dummy has a slight loss in the scores on the chest and calf, while the rear row dummy had a certain score loss in the head, neck and chest, Therefore, the score obtained is 84.82% of the total score.

In the crash test, the two front airbags and the two side air curtains of the NIO ES8 are popped up in time, which effectively protects the dummy.

Frontal Overlap Crash Test

In the more difficult Frontal overlap crash test, the NIO ES8 scored 18.425 points, accounting for 92.13% of the total. In addition to some points loss in the front row of the dummy’s chest, the rest are all scored.

Compared to the traditional fuel car, the front cabin of the NIO ES8 does not have engine and gearbox, so it looks even more fierce after the collision，it seems it is unsafe, actually the double flashing light flashes, the hidden door handle pops up, the four doors are easy to open, no deformation appears, and the passenger compartment is almost intact.

Side Crash Test

In the side crash test, NIO ES8 scored full mark in each segment and passed the test at 100% scoring rate. The video below is the bottom view of the NIO ES8 side crash test.

Similar to the frontal crash test, there are also several high-strength beams in the side collision to transmit the collision force, plus the threshold that can withstand the impact load of 40 tons, thus ensuring the integrity of the whole vehicle structure and avoiding the squeeze of the battery pack.

Sled Test

In the sled test, the test simulated vehicle’s seat-to-driver protection after the rear-end collision occurred. The NIO ES8 received a full score in addition to the neck injury criterion (NIC), and the final scoring rate is 92.42%

The NIO ES8 has been passed for electrical safety. Most of its high-voltage components are placed in non-crushing deformation zones, which can be powered down within 0.015 seconds after the collision and discharge within 2.5 seconds.

NIO has upgraded the NIO Pilot this month, and believes that there will be a certain degree of improvement in active safety. This crash test was conducted in April 2019. In other words, we have reason to believe that NIO ES8 will have a certain improvement in active safety.