[woodcote]

Full write up here: https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-euro...dium/44465

[rallyhub]

The E-Skoda would be a very nice slot car.
Even its slot electro motor would be more realistic than that of the common Fabia rally cars with petrol engine.

Hub

[Scuderia_Turini]

Had not heard about this, thanks Andy.
Sounds like the only concession was allowing en-route charging of the batteries. Hopefully we will see this car or similar in the European or World Rally Championship event soon. With more manufacturers offering all-electric cars, this may be a direction that the WRC could take up.
Top flight WRC rallying is moving to hybrid power trains in 2022 but the rumour mill has cast doubts upon Hyundai and Ford being ready. That would only leave Toyota in the top WRC class. 

Leo

[woodcote]

It grabbed my interest because of the uncertainties around the hybrids for next year. It seems the technology is already there to go full electric - with the necessary service vehicles. The FIA could make a bold move sooner rather than later.

That sort of impetus should create big innovations, which seem to be missing at the moment. It’s the cut and thrust of competition that usually creates the paradigm shifts in performance engineering, not blue sky thinking in an ivory tower.

And, of course, it creates a buzz around electric cars. That Skoda excites me more than anything else I’ve seen in the electric car world… apart from maybe the classic car conversions I saw in Amsterdam a couple of years ago.The drivetrain from the Skoda in your choice of 70s or 80s car would be utter sacrilege, but also rather tasty for the future.

[Anthony B]

Brilliant - and when you think about it - this is the perfect platform for an electric car!!

[rallyhub]

Here is some more information about the e-Skoda:
https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/pres...1-kreisel/
The next video is in German, but here are the most important items they said:
They compared a petrol Skoda and an e-version at a 2.4 km special stage, driven by the same driver and a  neutral co-driver.
The e-Skoda was about 1.2 sec. slower (0.5 sec/km).
To avoid cheating, the FIA read out the data logger during the event and controls the max. power used during the special stages.
(Otherwise they could use maybe 600 hp for a short time).
There is a sound module in the back of the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7QzVzNtsg&t=4s

Hub

[woodcote]

Thanks Hub, that's an incredibly interesting video - and the English subtitles certainly helped.

I loved the interview with Manfred Stohl - that explained perfectly the attraction of fully-electric cars to the drivers and to the engineers. And Raimund Baumschlager's walk-through of what's in the cockpit was nice... automatic tyre warming!

[rallyhub]

As far as I could understand Raimund Baumschlager, are the tyres warmed up by reversing the direction of rotation of the front or rear axle.
This can be done from standstill just before the start line.
Very clever and effective. No more dangerous tyre warming on public road before the next special stage.

Hub

[Scuderia_Turini]

Cheers Hub.
As Baumschlager  said, this looks like the only hope for rallying in years to come when society has turned its back on fossil fuelled vehicles. However, the technical chap at the end side-stepped the old, ancient, difficulty over battery-range. The motor control is nothing new and electronicly controlled differentials are very sophisticated these days so the week area is still the battery.
A fundamental aspect of rally is the endurance of human and machine so reducing special stage distances is not really on, especially as current WRC events are described by the old-guard as sprints.

I feel that the 2022 season is going to be a crucial year for the sport.

Leo

[dvd3500]

Here is some more information about the e-Skoda:
https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/pres...1-kreisel/
The next video is in German, but here are the most important items they said:
They compared a petrol Skoda and an e-version at a 2.4 km special stage, driven by the same driver and a  neutral co-driver.
The e-Skoda was about 1.2 sec. slower (0.5 sec/km).
To avoid cheating, the FIA read out the data logger during the event and controls the max. power used during the special stages.
(Otherwise they could use maybe 600 hp for a short time).
There is a sound module in the back of the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7QzVzNtsg&t=4s

Hub

It's technically Austrian. :-)