Nio EL8 in review: Did the most expensive Chinese car in Israel convince us?
The EL8, Nio’s flagship crossover, offers six seats and plenty of everything—horsepower, battery, range, features, and a hefty price tag of over NIS 600,000 for the test version.
By KENAN COHEN Nio EL8(photo credit: Kenan cohen)
Price (Base/Test): NIS 595,000/615,000
Competitors: BMW iX, Tesla Model X
We liked: Material and build quality, performance, comfort, range, spaciousness
We didn’t like: Road handling, weight
Score: 8.5/10
One of the most famous stories from Greek mythology is that of Icarus. In short: Daedalus and his son Icarus were tasked with building a labyrinth on the island of Crete. To prevent the secret of the labyrinth from being revealed, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus on the island under a naval blockade. In an attempt to escape, Daedalus constructed wings for himself and his son using bird feathers glued together with wax. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, as the heat would melt the wax and cause the wings to fall apart. Spoiler alert—there's a reason modern airplanes use metal wings. Overcome with excitement, Icarus flew too high, the heat melted the wax, and he fell to his doom.
The Chinese car market is an enormous labyrinth of top-tier manufacturers, each with sub-brands, export brands, gasoline-powered car brands, and electric car brands. Trying to list them all seems like an impossible task, with more than 250 manufacturers—before even counting the sub-brands.
The Chinese market is not only as complex as Daedalus’s labyrinth; like Crete, it is also an island of sorts, where all these brands battle it out. The situation is even more dire for manufacturers with luxury aspirations. The Chinese themselves no longer worship the German trio of BMW, Mercedes, and Audi that lead the luxury market in China, but all three saw significant declines in sales in 2024.
For domestic brands, the only way to rise above this labyrinth is to spread their wings and expand to Europe. And that’s where the challenge begins—determining which of them truly deserves the title and prestige, which are merely gluing on feathers with wax, and which might fly too high.
Nio entered the Israeli market at the end of 2023, but it hasn’t seen great success here. With fewer than 200 units sold, even though electric cars make up 25% of the market and 21% of all new cars in 2024 were from China—and even though the best-selling car that year was the BYD Atto 3, which is both Chinese and electric. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
Back to Nio: Its initial entry into Israel was through indirect import, with the cars purchased by importer Delek Motors from a dealer in Norway and then brought here—affecting the price. At the end of last year, the brand recalculated its strategy and significantly reduced prices after the importer began direct imports.
Has there been a tectonic shift in recent months? Not really. The Israeli customer may be open to Chinese cars and appreciate value for money, but marketing these brands as luxury remains a challenge. The EL8 you see here is, for now, the most ambitious attempt—an enormous, well-equipped, high-quality, powerful, advanced, and expensive electric crossover.
Design
While the front end is a typical example of Chinese copy-paste design—a sealed nose and narrow lighting units—its dimensions make an impression, particularly the rear, which is its most flattering angle. More than one person, including those familiar with luxury cars, commented that it resembles a Range Rover. As one put it, “If there were an electric Range Rover, it would look like this from the back.”
A distinctive design-technology element setting it apart is the "horns" at the roof corners and the "periscope" in the middle of the windshield—all part of Nio’s highly advanced safety system.
Interior
At first glance, the interior follows the usual "let’s do it like Tesla" template—an enormous screen and very clean lines. But they didn’t go all the way; unlike Tesla, there are three physical buttons for drive mode shortcuts, hazard lights, and door lock control, as well as a convenient gear selector.
The instrument cluster also looks like a clone of those seen in other Chinese manufacturers—white display, text that’s too small, and a constant safety system readout. Yes, I know there’s a truck and two cars in front of me—that’s what the giant transparent thing called a "windshield" is for.
Dealing with this over-engineered interface can be approached in three ways: a long training session on operating all the systems, using the voice assistant "Nomi" (which is very motivated and helpful), or ignoring most of it and using the essentials. And for those who say, “Young people today have no problem with this technology,” I’ll respond again—guess who isn’t buying a six-seat car for NIS 600,000? Right, young people. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
That said, aside from the ergonomics issue, every other aspect of the cabin is between "great" and "excellent." Material quality is top-notch, down to the microfiber trim on the front pillars. The seats are so comfortable you won’t want to get out, the space is fantastic, and even the ambient lighting is uniquely integrated into the interior trim. And when you start praising the interior lighting, someone has clearly done a good job.
And that’s just the driver’s area—there’s also the front passenger seat with a retractable footrest, and in the second row, two reclining, electrically adjustable armchairs with massage functions and ample space. This trim level even includes a highly efficient refrigerator between the seats, controlled via a separate touchscreen.
The third-row seats maintain a good standard, with individual air vents, charging ports (including wireless charging in the second row), and even electrically adjustable backrests. The space is reasonable for an adult thanks to the car’s generous dimensions and the second-row seats’ sliding function. Access to the third row is acceptable, but not outstanding. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
Cargo Space
The power-operated tailgate reveals a modest 265-liter trunk when all seats are in use. However, folding the third-row seats (or even just one) increases capacity to 810 liters. The air suspension allows the rear to be lowered for easier loading. There’s space under the floor for a charging cable but not a spare tire.
Equipment
The Nio EL8 is one of those cars where there is a dilemma about whether to list all the equipment or sum it up with a concise "everything." Since there is no room for the first option and the second would annoy many readers, I will try to highlight some of its standout features—those that truly stand out or impressed in performance. Its LED matrix lighting, which enables selective illumination around the vehicle, was excellent. The soft-close doors, acoustic windows, and its superb head-up display—including the projection of sign simulations at interchanges—were all impressive. Its navigation system still needs some fine-tuning for Hebrew text, but it offers an excellent feature that, to the best of our knowledge, is currently only available in Tesla, Volvo, and Polestar: a projection of the battery charge level upon arrival at the destination and a list of nearby public charging stations. The USB-C chargers are 60W, allowing for very fast phone charging. There is massage and ventilation for both rows of seats, heating for all, and, as mentioned, the front passenger seat and second-row seats recline fully. However, the clear recommendation is to never travel in this position, as in the event of an accident, seat belts and airbags are not optimally effective.
And since we have touched on safety, the EL8’s list includes autonomous braking, lane departure correction, cross-traffic alert, blind-spot warning, adaptive cruise control, an alert for opening a door when detecting a passing vehicle, traffic sign recognition, and more. Despite all the hype around the cameras and LiDAR at the top of the windshield, we did not feel an outstandingly exceptional performance from the systems. On the other hand, all Nio models have received five stars in the European crash test (the EL8 has not yet been tested in its current generation), with driver assistance systems in some of its models scoring over 90%, placing them among the top-performing systems.
Performance
The EL8 has two motors, which together release 653 hp and 86.6 kgm of torque to all four wheels through a dual-drive system called Intelligent E-AWD. It doesn’t really matter exactly what it does, and the logic behind the algorithm that distributes power isn’t particularly fascinating either. What is fascinating, however, is that in practice, it enables excellent performance. Excellent in "Comfort" mode, that is. If you switch to Sport or Sport+, it’s a real thrill ride, as its 2.6-ton weight—or 2.7 tons with a terrified passenger beside the driver—rockets from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.1 seconds. The stiffening of the air suspension keeps the chassis almost completely from shifting weight backward, improving wheel grip on the asphalt and amplifying the sensation.
Speaking of performance, it can be equipped with a retractable integrated tow hitch and has a towing capacity of up to 2,000 kg with a braked trailer. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
Energy Consumption and Charging
As with other Chinese cars, or in China in general, anything related to information and transparency comes with some reservations. For example, the trip computer will not provide you with any information about your average consumption—only that of the last 10 or 100 km. Want to know how much energy you consumed on your last trip or a specific journey? Check every 10 or 100 km. And since this vehicle is highly sophisticated and technologically advanced, we can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t be able to display this information—except that it simply doesn’t want you to know. Or as they say in the military: "There’s no such thing as 'can't,' only 'won't.'"
According to our measurements, the range achieved during test days varied between 430 and 460 km under reasonable usage conditions and around 400 km when factoring in dynamic driving. Overall, this is a reasonable gap compared to the declared range of 503 km.
The fast charging (DC) rate at compatible stations is 125 kW—not an impressive figure in terms of rapid charging. On the other hand, this is where it's worth mentioning that in Nio's electric philosophy, charging at a public station is only the third priority. In addition to home charging, which is standard practice—at least globally—Nio is building its ecosystem around fast battery-swapping stations, where you can swap out your battery for a fully charged one in just a few minutes and be back on the road in less than three minutes. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
Comfort and Handling
Air suspension is the ultimate shortcut around the difficult task of fine-tuning conventional suspension, which consists of coil springs and shock absorbers. It allows you to switch at the push of a button and a change in air pressure from a floating comfort mode during relaxed cruising to a tightened chassis for cornering. The EL8’s air suspension setup gets about 80% of the way there.
Let me explain: In Comfort mode and on most roads, it is truly comfortable and pleasant, with excellent noise isolation. However, when driving a little too fast or on slightly wavy roads, the system struggles to control the up-and-down movement, making the car feel overly "bouncy." On the other hand, when stiffened in Sport or Sport+ mode, physics contradicts its attempt to control the weight shifts of those 2.6 tons in turns. The light steering, which is too lightly weighted, further obscures the driver’s ability to sense tire grip. In this respect, it was significantly less impressive than its smaller sibling, the EL7, and the manufacturer’s sedan models.
So, the bottom line is that you get a car with a lot of power, but there’s a gap between that power and the ability to drive it fast with real driver engagement. Or as Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi once put it: "An abundance of milk doesn’t mean miracles." Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
The Bottom Line
Objectively, when evaluating the EL8 as a product, it is an excellent vehicle in the vast majority of the parameters examined. More than that, even at its price of NIS 600,000 or NIS 615,000 for the tested version, compared to similar competitors, it is a fantastic deal. Want what it offers with a "prestigious" badge? If you can find one, it will cost you NIS 150,000, NIS 200,000, or even NIS 400,000 more—like the Mercedes EQS SUV, for example.
Speaking of competitors, the fact that it is difficult to find direct rivals that match its price, performance, and features highlights just how good a deal it is.
Returning the Nio EL8 reinforces the realization that the pace at which Chinese manufacturers are closing the gap is unprecedented in the industry. However, there are still two areas where traditional automakers hold a significant lead: engineering—specifically, tuning the chassis-suspension-steering trio—and branding and reputation. Nio EL8 (credit: Kenan cohen)
Regarding the first issue—up to a certain product level—fine-tuning the chassis and suspension isn’t particularly relevant for the vast majority of buyers as long as it isn’t significantly problematic. As for the second issue—above a certain price point—being very good and offering a lot of features and technology isn’t always enough.
Luxury brand names, even those that aren’t extremely established, like Lexus or the relatively new Genesis, rely on years of trust-building and experience with their parent companies. This gap isn’t impossible to close—Tesla did it quickly—but now it’s up to the Chinese to convince buyers not with a single product but with a continuous lineup of products that will establish them.
This is a gap that cannot be filled with features and technology, nor can it be closed with quick acceleration times. Even the VIP service standard adopted by the importer won’t be enough. It’s a slow and steady process—otherwise, they risk flying too high and too close to the sun. And for Icarus, that didn’t end well.
