Nio's Massive ES9 Rejects the Touchscreen Takeover with 111 Real Buttons

Have you ever tried to turn on your windshield defroster while merging onto a wet highway using a flat sheet of glass? It is an incredibly stressful experience. Automakers have spent the last half decade stripping our car interiors down to bare screens inspired by recent minimalist design trends. Executives often cited a sleek aesthetic as the primary reason for this shift. In reality, removing physical hardware is a highly effective way to reduce manufacturing costs. Now, buyers are pushing back, because people want to feel a satisfying click when they adjust their climate control.

Nio seems to have received the message loud and clear. The Chinese automaker just unveiled its new flagship ES9. According to reporting from Eletric-Vehicles.com, a dedicated industry news portal, this new model officially replaces the ES8 as the top tier offering and currently holds the title of China’s largest fully electric SUV. The massive footprint of the vehicle is certainly grabbing headlines. The most important detail for your daily commute, however, sits right inside the cabin. Nio designers equipped the ES9 with exactly 111 physical buttons.

That number feels like a deliberate rebellion against the touch interface monopoly.

Having tangible switches for your daily driving functions transforms the ownership experience. When you can rely on muscle memory to adjust your mirrors, activate seat heaters, or lower the volume, your eyes stay firmly on the road ahead. This represents a massive shift in market strategy as brands finally acknowledge that ultra minimalist cabins are deeply frustrating in practice.

Looking at the physical presence of the ES9, this is a vehicle designed for maximum comfort. It stretches out to 211 inches in length with a sprawling 128 inch wheelbase. If you are trying to squeeze this into an older apartment parking garage, you will definitely want to break out the measuring tape first. Navigating tight city streets in a vehicle this large comes with inherent stress, though Nio did include rear wheel steering to help tighten the turning radius.

Under the floorboards, the vehicle utilizes a 102 kilowatt hour battery pack manufactured by CATL. Regulatory filings published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a government regulatory body, show this pack delivers a stated range of around 385 miles on the local testing cycle. Real world highway driving will naturally see a lower figure, especially considering the aerodynamic penalty of such a massive SUV. A vehicle weighing nearly 6,400 pounds simply requires a massive amount of energy to maintain highway speeds.

The charging logistics offer some genuine peace of mind for road trippers. The ES9 is built on a 900 volt electrical architecture. When plugged into a compatible ultra fast DC dispenser, you can add roughly 124 miles of range in just five minutes. That completely changes the rhythm of a family trip, reducing your charging stop to the time it takes to grab a coffee and use the restroom.

Pricing structures for the ES9 also provide an interesting lesson in managing the total cost of ownership. The vehicle carries a starting sticker price of roughly $77,200 when converted from Chinese yuan. Buyers also have the option to use the Battery as a Service program offered by Nio. By choosing to lease the battery separately for about $155 per month, the upfront purchase price drops down to around $61,400.

This leasing approach removes a massive chunk of your initial financing burden. It also effectively eliminates long term concerns about battery degradation, since you are essentially subscribing to the battery hardware and can swap it out at dedicated stations. For anyone planning to keep their vehicle well past its standard warranty period, that flexibility removes one of the biggest unknowns in EV ownership.

Other manufacturers are also pivoting aggressively toward the premium large SUV segment. The demand for executive level family haulers is intensifying across the globe. XPeng, a major competitor, is preparing to launch its own rival named the GX. The upcoming XPeng model will reportedly feature extensive automated driving hardware and even offer an extended range hybrid version with a small gas generator. That gives buyers who regularly drive through charging station deserts a backup plan, highlighting the different ways automakers are trying to cure range anxiety.

Ultimately, the launch of the ES9 proves that luxury and usability can easily coexist. Getting an enormous amount of passenger space paired with lightning fast charging speeds makes the logistics of family travel significantly easier. For anyone who has spent the last few years tapping endlessly on smeared glass displays, the return of the humble physical button might just be the most premium feature of all.