Electromobility in racing: technology transfer for electric cars on the road?

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At the third attempt, Audi achieved the long-awaited victory in the world’s toughest rally, Paris-Dakar. After two bankruptcies in 2022 and 2023, the Spanish factory duo of Carlos Sainz Senior/Lucas Cruz achieved their first Dakar victory with the electric Audi RS Q E-Tron after approximately 7,900 kilometers. Especially with Audi’s hybrid of off-road vehicle and Baja buggy: In addition to the high-voltage battery in the vehicle, electricity is also produced by the gasoline engine of an old DTM racing car. The energy converter runs on waste-based gasoline and is intended to save 60 percent in CO₂ emissions compared to conventional fuel.

The LMDh prototype class also competes partially electric in long-distance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans or Daytona, which are part of the World Endurance Championship (WEC). This means their combustion engine is combined with a standard electric motor from Bosch. The total power of this hybrid boost system is 706 hp (519 kW) and the vehicle weight is approximately one tonne. The system operates with a maximum voltage of 800 volts. The standard battery stores 1.35 kilowatt hours of usable energy, and this energy can be accessed at any time in 30 to 50 kilowatt increments during acceleration phases.

Popular hybrid racing class

This new racing class is attracting great interest among automakers due to its significantly lower costs and possible use on all continents. Now, not only BMW, Porsche, Cadillac/GM and Acura/Honda, but also Ferrari, Peugeot/Stellantis, Alpine/Renault and Lamborghini compete with factory teams in WEC races. They all hope to boost the image for electric motorsport after the Formula E racing series has attracted little attention, especially in Europe.

For the first time, a hybrid car won the opening 24-hour race in Daytona (USA) three weeks ago, with Porsche 963 and Cameron/Nasr/Campbell/Newgarden drivers. But from 2015 to 2017, Porsche celebrated great success with an electric racing car with the 919 Hybrid and three Le Mans victories. «The 919 Hybrid was at the technological forefront. At that time there was wide freedom under the LMP1 regulations. The cars were fascinating, but expensive and difficult to drive,” recalls Thomas Laudenbach, head of motorsport at Porsche. Therefore, these cars were not suitable for use by customer teams. And certainly not for technology transfer to large-scale production.

Simpler technology, lower costs

Things look a little different in the new LMDh category, which includes the Porsche 963. “Costs are significantly lower, hybrid components are less complex and can be used by a professional and experienced customer team,” says Laudenbach. Porsche recently introduced the GT4 e-Performance, an electric prototype with over 1000 hp, as the racing car of tomorrow. Laudenbach: “The issue of electrification is not limited to road vehicles, it is also very important in motorsport.” The head of Porsche motorsport explains: “Our racing activities must always be relevant to what is happening on the road and in series car production. In premium sport we apply the theme in Formula E, in long-distance racing we have hybridization and in customer racing our vision is GT4 e-Performance.”

But if you take a serious look at Porsche’s electric commitment to endurance racing or Audi’s Paris-Dakar adventure, it becomes clear that these developments are primarily about racing and promotion. However, we have no intention of transferring the technology to mass production and therefore to everyday electric cars on our roads. Sooner or later individual components may also find their place in series electric vehicles.

Source: Blick