Audi RS Q e-tron won its first desert rally in Abu Dhabi in March 2022 and now the next evolution is ready. The innovative prototype presents itself significantly improved for the 2022 Morocco Rally and the 2023 Dakar Rally. The body is completely new and features significantly enhanced aerodynamics. It helps lower the prototype’s weight and center of gravity. New operating strategies further improve efficiency of the electric drivetrain. In the interior and when changing wheels, the driver and co-driver benefit from easier operation. Following these evolutions, the RS Q e-tron rally car now bears the abbreviation E2. It is reminiscent of the legendary Audi Sport quattro in its final development stage for Group B rallying in the 1980s. The aerodynamic concept in the area of the body below the hood is completely new. This section is almost reminiscent of the shape of a boat’s hull: its widest point is at the height of the cockpit, while the body tapers significantly towards the front and rear. Audi has now dispensed with the part of the fenders that was behind the front wheels and formed a transition to the door. Internally, this structure was called the elephant foot. As a result, the designers saved more weight and optimized the air flow. The electric drivetrain of the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 comprises an energy converter consisting of an internal combustion engine and a generator, as well as a high-voltage battery and two electric motors on the front and rear axles. Energy management plays a crucial role here. The electronic control system of the complex electric drivetrain proved its worth in the first rally events.Challenges only arose in extreme cases. At the Dakar Rally, for example, Audi noted short-term surpluses of power in situations where the wheels made less contact with the ground while jumping or on uneven terrain. The officials of the FIA, the world automobile federation, intervene at a threshold of 2 kilojoules of excess energy and impose sporting penalties.The so-called auxiliary consumers also benefit from optimized control. The servo pump, the air conditioning cooling pump and the fans have a measurable impact on the energy balance. In the course of the debut season in 2022, the Audi and Q Motorsport rally team gained valuable experience that enabled better assessment. Take the air-conditioning system, for example: It works so aggressively that it could cause the coolant to freeze when constantly running at its maximum output. In the future, the system will run in an intermittent mode. This saves energy, yet the interior temperatures only fluctuate slightly, even over longer periods. The operating strategy for the fans and the servo pump has also been optimized. For example, the systems can now be regulated differently for lower loads on the liaison stages than on the special stages.
Audi RS Q e-tron won its first desert rally in Abu Dhabi in March 2022 and now the next evolution is ready. The innovative prototype presents itself significantly improved for the 2022 Morocco Rally and the 2023 Dakar Rally. The body is completely new and features significantly enhanced aerodynamics. It helps lower the prototype’s weight and center of gravity. New operating strategies further improve efficiency of the electric drivetrain. In the interior and when changing wheels, the driver and co-driver benefit from easier operation. Following these evolutions, the RS Q e-tron rally car now bears the abbreviation E2. It is reminiscent of the legendary Audi Sport quattro in its final development stage for Group B rallying in the 1980s. The aerodynamic concept in the area of the body below the hood is completely new. This section is almost reminiscent of the shape of a boat’s hull: its widest point is at the height of the cockpit, while the body tapers significantly towards the front and rear. Audi has now dispensed with the part of the fenders that was behind the front wheels and formed a transition to the door. Internally, this structure was called the elephant foot. As a result, the designers saved more weight and optimized the air flow. The electric drivetrain of the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 comprises an energy converter consisting of an internal combustion engine and a generator, as well as a high-voltage battery and two electric motors on the front and rear axles. Energy management plays a crucial role here. The electronic control system of the complex electric drivetrain proved its worth in the first rally events.Challenges only arose in extreme cases. At the Dakar Rally, for example, Audi noted short-term surpluses of power in situations where the wheels made less contact with the ground while jumping or on uneven terrain. The officials of the FIA, the world automobile federation, intervene at a threshold of 2 kilojoules of excess energy and impose sporting penalties.The so-called auxiliary consumers also benefit from optimized control. The servo pump, the air conditioning cooling pump and the fans have a measurable impact on the energy balance. In the course of the debut season in 2022, the Audi and Q Motorsport rally team gained valuable experience that enabled better assessment. Take the air-conditioning system, for example: It works so aggressively that it could cause the coolant to freeze when constantly running at its maximum output. In the future, the system will run in an intermittent mode. This saves energy, yet the interior temperatures only fluctuate slightly, even over longer periods. The operating strategy for the fans and the servo pump has also been optimized. For example, the systems can now be regulated differently for lower loads on the liaison stages than on the special stages.
