Audi wants to stir up the Dakar Rally with an electric car

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Because there are no charging stations in the desert, Audi has come up with a slightly different hybrid drive.

A few years ago, Audi was the first to win the Le Mans 24 Hours with a hybrid, and now the Dakar Rally is to follow. On Friday the automaker had the Audi RS Q E-Tron presented, with which one should start at the next edition of the Dakar in January 2022. The driver will be Stéphane Peterhansel, who has already won the rally 14 times. So the chances are not that bad that Audi will at least cross the finish line.

The RS Q E-Tron is also a hybrid, albeit not in the classic sense. The drive train, for example, is electric and based on the manufacturer’s current Formula E vehicle. However, a TFSI engine from the DTM is also installed. It is part of an energy converter that charges the high-voltage battery while driving. This is also necessary because there are of course no charging stations in the desert.

“The battery is an in-house development that we realized together with a partner,” says Stefan Dreyer, Head of Development at Audi Sport for motorsport projects. “With the powertrain, we have already achieved a system efficiency of over 97 percent in Formula E. There is not much room for improvement. The situation is completely different with battery and energy management. This is where the greatest development potential for electromobility in general lies. What we learn from the Dakar project will flow into future series models. “

The maximum system output of the electric drive is 500 kW. How much of it can be used during the Dakar Rally has yet to be determined by the organizers. The battery weighs around 370 kilograms and has a capacity of around 50 kWh. That is not a lot, but it can save Audi weight. In addition, the RS Q E-Tron should not be fully fueled, but the fuel is optimized for each stage, which can be up to 800 kilometers long.

Audi won’t be the first electric car at the Dakar. It is already 2017 a car from the Spanish energy company Acciona succeededto reach the finish line in the toughest rally in the world – completely emission-free. The car was repeatedly charged with solar energy while driving. Acciona couldn’t win like that, of course, but that wasn’t the point. Audi has other goals; the car is set to win the Dakar one day. It remains to be seen whether this will work on the first attempt. “If we finish the first Dakar event, it will be a success,” says team principal Sven Quandt.

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