POWER SHIFT

“SHE SAYS YOU NEED A CHINE SE NAME.”

Our fixer is sat at a desk in Beijing Airport, painstakingly translating my particulars into Mandarin and writing them on a complicated-looking form. And just like that, I’m presented with an opportunity for which millions would gladly give their two front teeth – the chance to choose my own name.

“Turd Fairy,” photographer Rowan Horncastle replies alarmingly quickly, as though he’s given this a great deal of thought, “and I’ll be Speed Master”. Licence Lady looks up from her paperwork as I choke on my Starbucks.

We’re in China to drive an electric car you probably haven’t heard of, a very long way. Nio is one of almost 500 EV manufacturers registered here. It’s been going for five years, and the ES6 is only its second proper car. You might have heard of the EP9, which held the EV record at the Nürburgring for over two years – before Volkswagen smashed it with the ID.R – or of the company’s somewhat successful Formula E team. But you probably haven’t, because though it has an office in London, Nio doesn’t sell cars in Britain. Or indeed anywhere that isn’t China.

So you wouldn’t know that Nio is very much a thing. It’s listed on the New York Stock