The direct yaw-moment control (DYC) system consisting of an upper controller and a lower controller is developed on the basis of sliding mode theory and adaptive control technique. First, the two-degree of freedom (2-DOF) model is utilized to calculate the ideal yaw rate. Then, the seven-degree of freedom (7-DOF) electric vehicle model is given to design the upper controller by employing first-order sliding mode (FOSM) method, which is constructed to guarantee the actual yaw rate to approach the ideal value and gain the additional yaw moment. On this basis, an adaptive first-order sliding mode (AFOSM) controller is designed to enhance the system robustness against probable modelling error and parametric uncertainties. In order to mitigate the chattering issue present in the FOSM controller, a novel adaptive super-twisting sliding mode (ASTSM) controller is proposed for the design of DYC. Furthermore, the lower controller converting the additional yaw moment into driving or braking torque acting on each wheel is also developed. Finally, The simulation results indicate that the proposed DYC system can improve the electric vehicle driving stability effectively.