A new car for a new group, a whole bunch of new risks – that's the challenge Audi faced when it debuted in Dakar as a factory team.
Forget everything you think you know about the interior of an Audi car, including the brand's legendary sophistication and elegance. The cab of the RS Q e-Tron is unlike any RS, Q or e-Tron on the road. The interior was narrow, dark, rough, and mechanical, and the car was noisy, hot, and bumpy as it was driven. The charm of the gloomy cockpit is comparable to that of an armored patrol car.
The side windows are more like vertical rectangular periscopes, while the field of view at the rear is limited to the footage provided by a small rearview camera. The dashboard and center console protrude from the dashboard and are boxy, surrounded by seemingly random crammed with switches, buttons, displays and warning lights.
Speed, reliability and ease of maintenance are all issues to be concerned about.
Because this RS Q e-Tron, although it uses many tried and tested Audi parts, is a different Audi. It took only a short time from conception to birth, and its mission was to participate in the Dakar Rally in January 2022, a two-week desert cross-country race in the desert of Saudi Arabia, and to stress-test the hardware and software used in Audi's future e-Tron series electric road models.
How much does a car made for a race through the desert really have to do with a company that focuses primarily on making family crossovers? We are deeply skeptical of the comparison, especially considering that the e-Tron is not a pure electric car, but a range-extended electric vehicle - although the wheels are driven by an electric motor, it is a 4-cylinder gasoline engine that charges the battery.
There will be three cars, produced by Audi Sport in Neuburg.
Due to major changes to the rules of the Dakar race, RS Q e-Tron can compete in a newly created New Energy Category (T1-E). Audi conceived a unique high-performance hybrid system with a battery pack capacity of 52 kWh, charged by a TFSI engine, but with reduced power from nearly 580 hp to about 300 hp in the DMM (German Touring Car Masters) racing version. The combined maximum power of the system available from the wheels is about 680 horsepower, and the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h on soft roads such as sand and earth and rock is 4.5 seconds. The maximum speed is limited to 170 km/h. This is, of course, a new energy vehicle, but the fuel consumption of 100 kilometers exceeds 30 liters – the monster's carbon footprint is comparable to that of a snowman.
Two electric/generators from an Audi Formula E race car drive the front and rear wheels respectively via a single-speed transmission with a mechanical differential lock. The inter-shaft torque distribution is controlled by a virtual electronically controlled differential.
Because the curb weight target is no higher than 2,000 kg, and the 800-volt battery pack and the 295-liter tank filled with oil weigh more than 300 kg, plus the 105 kg electric motor and the 100 kg TFSI engine, the carbon fiber body, the steel tube frame, the aluminum double wishbone suspension, the 6 sets of cooling lines, the Bosch power electronic control device and the Brembo steel brake with on-demand balancing and energy recovery function are less than 1200 kg.
It is of course a new energy vehicle,
But the carbon footprint is probably comparable to a snowman.
Audi has done nearly 5,000 km of tests inside Morocco (including a special section of 800 km at race speed), and the battery is still a big unknown. Assembled by a specialist supplier to specifications determined by Audi and controlled by a Bosch PDM32 black box, the battery has a number of potential problems, including premature attenuation and chemical composition failures within the cell. Although the 3458 units are placed deep inside the body, the clever structural design ensures that the modules can be quickly picked up and placed when the module needs to be replaced.
The RS Q e-Tron could be an engineering masterpiece, it could win Dakar races, or it might even go into mass production because it had certain forward-thinking elements. But if it doesn't get close to the championship — a very rare example of success in a brand new model in Dakar — it could end up feeling strange, and it could just be an indulgence of millions of euros spent by a carmaker that promises to turn the blue planet into a better home.
Race against time
The project began in 2020, and on January 2, 2022, three RS Q e-Trons will quietly rush out at the starting point of the Khar Rally in Dada, Saudi Arabia. Audi's agreement with the event organizers is that the Audi sports division will participate for 3 years, which will help achieve the event's goal of becoming more environmentally friendly in the next 10 years, while Audi's own goal is to test electrification technology under extreme conditions, providing experience for the e-Tron series of road models.
The body is tall and wide, but not as long as an A3.
Electrified, but not purely electric
The RS Q e-Tron is not a pure electric vehicle, but a range extended electric vehicle, using components from the cars used by Audi Sport in different races, including Formula E (electric/generator unit), DTM (battery-charged TFSI petrol engine) and Le Mans (carbon fiber reinforced plastic cockpit where the driver and navigator are located).
Be prepared for extreme situations
The RS Q e-Tron has six cooling systems, three electric/generators (one for each front and rear axles, and another for converting the power output of the engine into battery-fed power) and two central control units. They have all undergone rigorous testing, including two rounds in Morocco, where temperatures are higher than in Saudi Arabia.
Text/Georg Kacher Translation/Shang Hongxin