After the Formula E and Extreme E racing series, other motorsport events are slowly developing a taste for electronics. Skoda is currently working on a rally vehicle that will race through the special stages electrically.
The green and white racer thunders down the icy snow slope near Zell am See with its lavish spoiler garb, brakes brutally, turns the rear end and speeds through the long left-hand bend at full throttle before accelerating again before the small jump hill, completely without it Telemark attitude with spinning wheels lands safely and whizzes on wildly. Everything is normal as always – it doesn’t look much different in the special stages of a rally. But this time something is new, feels different: the roaring noise of the high-revving turbocharger is missing when approaching the curve as well as during the hot drift on the ice rink. Instead, the rally racer with conspicuous war paint looks like a jet plane taking off, at least acoustically. The reason is very simple: the green and white rally car is powered by an electric motor that brutally accelerates it from the lowest revs.
Skoda, the battery experts from Kreisel Electric and the rally specialists from Baumschlager Racing have developed a rally vehicle for the near future. The Skoda RE-X1 Kreisel is based on the chassis of the well-known rally car Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo, which is powered by an electric motor with an output of 260 kW / 353 hp. Some opponents had to realize how good the whole thing was in reality: at the premiere in the Austrian Rally Championship, the concept vehicle achieved a podium finish right away. “Various levels of electrification are playing an increasingly important role not only in road vehicles, but also in motorsport. At Skoda Motorsport we have to prepare for these changes. When we had the chance to develop a fully electric rally car in cooperation with Kreisel Electric and Baumschlager Rallye Racing to develop,” explains Skoda Motorsport Director Michal Hrabánek, “we have adapted the body, the chassis and the suspension of a Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo to the requirements of the electric drive. The prototype can be used for rallies as well as for rallycross It can be configured for competitions with a power output of 260 to over 500 kW. The car has made a great impression in its first outings.”
Kreisel Electric has made a name for itself in recent years through extraordinary electrical studies. Long before Mercedes electrified its G-Class, the Kreisel brothers from Rainbach / Austria implanted a powerful electric drive in the Graz all-wheel drive scrambler and put Arnold Schwarzenegger at the wheel for advertising purposes. Now the next coup is imminent, because Kreisel Electric produces components for the uniform hybrid technology of the new Rally 1 vehicles in the world championship. For example, the motorsport department at Skoda adapted the chassis of the successful Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo for the installation of an electric drive train. Skoda Motorsport also supported Kreisel Electric in the course of the homologation process for the chassis and also wants to support Baumschlager Rallye & Racing with further development with technical expertise and comprehensive advice.
The lithium-ion battery from Kreisel has a capacity of 52.6 kWh and supplies an electrical voltage of 860 volts. For optimal performance, the battery pack is mounted as low as possible in the chassis due to the center of gravity and is liquid-cooled. Kreisel Electric has developed a charging station for the races that works with a charging current of 180 kilowatts. The charging system can be mounted on a truck together with storage batteries and can therefore be used variably in races and training sessions. The Austrian Motorsport Association has homologated the Skoda RE-X1 Kreisel with an electronically controlled output of 260 kW / 353 hp and a maximum torque of 600 Newton meters for use in the national rally championship. At the competition debut as part of the Rallye Weiz, the 14-time national champion Raimund Baumschlager and co-driver Jürgen Heigl faced the competition in conventionally powered Rally 2 vehicles and took a very good third place at the finish. Wait and see if the rally championship will go all electric in the coming years. Hybrid has been on the road since this season. The regulations for the top-of-the-line Rally 1 series have been fixed for three years and provide for the combination of a 1.6-liter turbo engine with a plug-in hybrid module that delivers 100 kW / 136 hp. The electrical energy comes from a 3.9-kilowatt-hour battery that can be charged in around 25 minutes.
Source: Stern
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