Range anxiety doesn’t quite fit in an endurance race like the Dakar Rally is, reason why no one ever thought it’s a good idea to grab an all electric car and hit the desert. That happened until now, because we’ll actually see such a thing fighting the long run next year.
Designed and built by the Spanish civil engineering firm ACCIONA, the first all electric rally car ever to enter Dakar will try to make history next year and set another important milestone in the automotive industry.
The car is built from scratch and is powered by a 300 hp electric motor sucking up on four lithium-ion battery packs totaling 140 kWh, which is more than two standard Tesla Model S. It should be enough for Dakar’s 200+ miles stages (322 km) and they are also interchangeable once they reach a checkpoint.
Will it manage to at least finish the over 5600 mile (9000 km) rally with no drop of fossil fuel, where usual cars do consume over 2,200 liters of prehistoric juice? We do hope it manages, but don’t forget that...
...The Dakar Rally is the most challenging auto event
This year for example, there were 431 vehicles at the start line, out of which only half of them reached the end of the rally. Fuel is not the only concern when you have to deal with temperatures of up to 50 degrees C (122 F), rocks, sand, bumps, fine dust and 2 days without access to service vehicles.
It’s tough, but even if ACCIONA doesn’t win the race at all, completing such a challenge will surely be another nail in the coffin for the combustion era. Their EV rally car looks good enough to take the challenge as you’ll see in the video.
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