The Audi RS Q e-tron, the first hybrid car at the 2022 Dakar

The letters pile up, but to put it simply, the RS Q e-tron constitutes Audi's weapon of choice to compete in the Dakar, the most famous of rally-raids. The German manufacturer, which plans a first official participation in January 2022, presented its hybrid machine this Friday July 23. Visually, you'd think you were projected into the future, thanks to the sharp lines and minimalist lights. A huge air intake is located on the roof, and it betrays the installation of an electrical system unique in the discipline.

In fact, the RS Q e-tron has not one, not two, but three electric generators (MGU). The front and rear axle each have an MGU from the Audi e-tron FE07 seen in detail. Formula E in 2021. The third MGU is used to recharge a high-voltage battery while driving. The energy released during braking is also captured. The battery is a nice baby of 370 kg with a capacity of 50 kWh.

That's not all. To overcome the long stages of nearly 800 km each day for almost two weeks in Saudi Arabia, the engineers of the brand at the Rings added a TFSI block taken from the DTM. This fulfills the function of an energy convector: it will charge the battery when the vehicle is in a dynamic situation. Between 4 and 500 rpm, consumption will be “well below” 6 grams of gasoline per kWh.

“The battery is a proprietary development that we carried out with a partner,” says Stefan Dreyer, head of development at Audi Sport for motorsport projects. “As engineers, we essentially see development potential in every component. But when it comes to the transmission system, we have already achieved a system efficiency of over 97% in Formula E. There is not much room for improvement.

The situation is quite different with battery and power management. This is where the greatest potential for the development of electromobility in general lies. What we learn from the extremely difficult Dakar project will carry over into future production models. As always, we are also working closely with our colleagues in road car development on this project. »

Testing began at the beginning of July and races will be on the program at the start of the school year. As a reminder, Audi Sport has chosen three high-caliber crews, under the umbrella of Q Motorsport (from X-Raid): Stéphane Peterhansel-Édouard Boulanger, Carlos Sainz-Lucas Cruz and Mattias Ekström-Emil Bergkvist.