Audi is preparing an electric beast for the Dakar Rally

If there's one thing that has always thrilled motoring enthusiasts, and especially motorsport enthusiasts, it's the Quattro. The four-wheel drive beast of Group B, with which the German automaker not only changed the World Rally Championship. It changed the whole of motoring, demonstrating in practice the benefits of four-wheel drive. Audi knows this very well and wants to repeat it. This time, with another monster. A four-wheel drive electric car, with which the German brand will enter the Dakar Rally...

And the name of it is RS Q e-tron. For the moment, it is a electric prototype. A model which is in the testing phase, although it is considered certain that with this the Audi will come down to the Dakar Rally, him January 2022. Η German brand has an ambitious goal with the RS Q e-tron: to become the the first manufacturer using vehicle with electric drive system in combination with a effective energy converter, competing directly opponents with conventional vehicles, in one of the most difficult rallies in the world.

Charging from... TFSI

"The quattro changed the terms of the game in World Rally Championship. Then Audi was the first brand to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a electric drive system. Now, we want to inaugurate a new era in the Dakar Rally, while we test and further develop the e-tron technology in extreme conditions", explains the Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for motorsport at Audi, Julius Seebach and it goes on: "The RS Q e-tron was created from a blank sheet of paper in record time and represents Vorsprung durch Technik."

And just the size of specialists the Dakar Rally on a daily basis, which reaches the 800 km, represents a challenge in itself. Because there are no charging opportunities in the desert, in the Audi RS Q e-tron, there is the highly efficient TFSI engine from the DTM. It is part of a energy converter that charges the high voltage battery while driving. Since the combustion engine operates in the particularly efficient range between 4,500 and 6,000 rpm, the specific consumption is very below 200 grams per kWh.

The Audi RS Q e-tron is equipped both in the Forward as well as in the rear axle by motor/generator unit (MGU) borrowing from the e-tron FE07 single-seater of Audi at Formula E, with only minor modifications specifically for the Dakar Rally. A third MGU, of the same design, are part of the energy converter and serves for the recharge of the high-voltage battery while driving.

In addition, energy is also recovered during the braking. Η battery weighs approximately 370 kg, of an energy capacity of approximately 50 kWh.

The Audi RS Q e-tron has a single transmission relationship, with the Software to undertake the torque distribution between the axles, creating a virtual and freely adjustable central differential, which has the advantage of weight saving and space.

Different and visually

Visual, the Audi RS Q e-tron differs also significantly from the conventional Dakar prototypesbeing more futuristic. "Our goal was a prototype that symbolizes Vorsprung durch Technik and the future of our brand", explains the Head of Motorsport Design at Audi, Juan Manuel Diaz.

The Audi RS Q e-tron prototype was unveiled earlier this year. July, with a intensive testing programme, which includes participation in cross-country races...has already begun. As stated by Sven Quandt, head of the team Q Motorsport with which Audi is collaborating on the development of the prototype, "the key to success, apart from reliability, which is of paramount importance, is the communication of all the different systems with each other, as the electric performance drive system, in such a difficult terrain as the desert, is distinguished by its complexity".