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A very notable premiere took place last weekend at the Rallye du Chablais at Aigle VD, which is part of the national championship. The ADAC Opel E-Rallye Cup held a championship race in Switzerland for the first time – the second in the junior electric championship, which is only in its third year. 18 technically identical and all-electric rally-equipped Opel Corsa-e (see box) are competing.
Of course, these 18 electric race cars need electricity in the service park. This takes a lot of effort. Electric rally cars recharge during breaks between special stages. At the same time, mechanics handle the maintenance and repair of the racing vehicle. Racing Corsa’s 50 kWh battery can be easily charged up to 80 percent in 30 minutes with 100 kilowatts. But things get even more problematic when almost all 18 vehicles are sucking electricity at the same time at the charging stations in the paddock. Then there are the charging peaks of up to 2000 kilowatt hours.
New charging concept
Charge4hire, a subsidiary of eLoaded, has addressed this issue with a mobile solution. It feeds the energy from the public medium or low voltage grid of the city of Aigle and distributes it via a DC bus system to the various charging stations in the rally service park. This significantly reduces energy losses between the network transfer point and the charging plug on the electric race car and makes it possible to charge up to 500 amps in the 200 to 980 volt power range.
The collected average current is then fed to an adapted transformer called the powerhouse. This provides a maximum output of two megawatts to 18 charging points in the Opel Rally Service Park, one of which is located in the service tent of each Cup vehicle. Thanks to the practical quick-release fasteners, the cables are installed instantly and the Rallye-E-Corsa’s power supply system is installed and dismantled in one day.
“It still takes a lot of effort,” says Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott (59). Of course, everything is not only logistically complicated, but also connected with high costs. Electricity costs aside, connection costs are expensive. Logistics is not yet completely emission-free. But that’s the target for the future. “We are currently CO₂-free locally, and that will certainly apply to logistics in the future,” Schrott said.
E-rally cars are fun
With the electrification of its rally cars, Opel wants to prove that it is not only sustainable, it can also be fun. And riding one of the Chablais special stages with e-Rally Cup winner Timo Schulz (23) proves to us that e-rally cars are a lot of fun too. “It’s fun that the car reacts so directly to gas explosions. Of course, the output of 136 hp/100 kW could have been a little higher», says last season’s winner with a grin.
However, it will not be long before other electric racing classes emerge for more powerful rally vehicles. “We are in constant communication with the racing authority, the FIA, on the development of current standards for electric rally,” says Schrott. And until then, there are hopes of further improvements to the overall charging options.
Source: Blick
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
