In recent years, automobile manufacturers have been striving to incorporate advanced driver assistance and safety systems (ADAS) into their new vehicles to avoid accidents. It is a fact that technology is helping to reduce the number of victims and serious accidents while driving.
Many of these accidents can happen due to extreme weather phenomena, which are increasingly common in any region of the planet. In this sense, the new U8 electrified SUV from the YangWang car brand arrives to offer rapid emergency response thanks to its surprising ability to stay afloat and navigate in the event of torrential rains or major floods.
YangWang, the premium brand of the Chinese electrified car company BYD, assures that its new model is designed to be able to float for 30 minutes in the water and move through it at 3 km/h, accelerating and turning the direction up to 360 degrees, in one shape reminiscent of a tank wing.
The U8 is a hybrid SUV that is powered by four electric motors, each of them coupled to a wheel and achieving a total power of almost 1,200 HP. This allows it to reach 200 km/h and accelerate from 0 to 100 in 3.6 seconds.
It should not be overlooked that it also integrates a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that serves to extend the vehicle's autonomy. It should not be overlooked that this motor is only responsible for generating additional electricity and that propulsion always depends on the electric motors. With the 75-liter fuel tank full and the 49.05 kWh battery fully charged, the U8 can travel up to a thousand kilometers. Another of its many notable qualities is that each wheel can rotate in a different direction both on land and in water.
It is not a recreational vehicle for fording rivers or navigating lakes, but rather a large all-terrain vehicle that incorporates a revolutionary rescue system that is activated by pressing the navigation mode in case of accidentally falling into the water or finding yourself in the middle of a sudden flood. Without a doubt, this can make the difference between leaving an emergency situation of this type unscathed or not.
Navigation mode automatically raises the car's suspension, deactivates the combustion engine, switches the HVAC system to recirculation mode to prevent water ingress, closes the windows and opens the sunroof. The latter allows the occupants to exit the car and potentially save their lives.
The U8 has a water resistance level of IP68, which is the maximum degree of protection that an electronic device has against the ingress of particles such as liquids or dust. The vehicle's center console display provides data on driving through water. After suffering a circumstance of this type, it is necessary to take the car for inspection to inspect it and check the proper functioning of all the components.
There are two versions of the U8 available with different navigation capabilities. While the standard version can withstand water levels rising up to one meter, the Off-Road Master Edition comes equipped with a snorkel to increase this figure up to 1.4 meters.
YangWang will begin deliveries of the U8 in October with a starting price of 140,000 euros. The Off-Road Master Edition version will reach customers at a later date. If you are interested in seeing in detail how this powerful Chinese SUV moves in the water, be sure to pay attention to the attached video.
