Electric Desert Bashing

Audi is taking on one of the biggest challenges in international motorsport, the Dakar Rally, with a brand new ride, the Audi RS Q e-tron E2. The previous iteration of this beauty, the Audi RS Q e-tron smashed it spectacularly, scoring four stage wins during its debut in 2022 before bagging a win at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. They managed this by going completely against the grain, being the first to use an electric drivetrain against conventionally powered competitors living in the stone age. We’ll see the E2 on full display at the 2023 Dakar Rally, but what we’ve seen so far is impressive.

On loose surfaces, it can pull 100km/h in under 4.5 seconds and can hit 170km/h easily, as it’s limited by the regulations. It has a totally output of about 392 horsepower. Without the driver, the vehicles weighs in at 2,100kg.

There aren’t a whole lot of charging ports in the middle of the desert, so the E2 uses a highly efficient 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo TFSI engine from the DTM. This is used as part of an energy converter that charges the batteries on the move.

The battery weights around 370kg and has capacity for about 52kWh. Both the front and rear axels are fitted with motor-generator units thieved from the Audi e-tron FE07 Formula E car. A third MGU is built into the power converter to recharge the batteries.