VW Wants to Take the Electric Record at Pikes Peak

Volkswagen wants to prove its electric car bona fides, and the best way to do that is at the track, as it were. To prove itself, it has announced that it will try to break the electric record at Pike’s Peak.

“The Pike’s Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races and is therefore perfectly suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies,” said Dr. Frank Welsch, head of development. “Our electric race car will be equipped with innovative battery and drive technology. The extreme stress test posed by Pikes Peak will us important feedback that will benefit future development.”

Volkswagen Motorsport will build the car. In the past, they have taken the Polo to four consecutive World Rally Championships, the Beetle (now) three Red Bull Global Rallycross championships, and much more.

The brand has also raced at Pikes Peak before, with a twin-engine Golf. Not unlike the I.D. concept, there were engines up front and out back. Sadly, that Golf just missed out on the finish, but Sven Smeets, Volkswagen Motorsport Director, says that “it is high time for a rematch.”

“The project is also an important milestone in our new motorsport orientation,” said Smeets. “The race on Pikes Peak is a new beginning for us. We are developing an all-electric race vehicle for the first time.”

This new race car will be in good company when it gets to Pikes Peak, which is no stranger to electric cars. Given the high altitude, power coming from a motor that doesn’t run on air is actually an advantage. At 14,000 feet above sea level, traditional engines can struggle to find power near the peak.

The event’s current record holder is Sebastien Loeb (in a Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak) at 8:13.878. The electric record, meanwhile, is held by Rhys Millen in the e0 PP100 with a time of 8:57.118. Volkswagen will be looking to beat Millen’s time.

The post VW Wants to Take the Electric Record at Pikes Peak appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2kZG3x3
via IFTTT

Comments

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier. The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow. While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something . To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it. Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait. So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Volkswagen’s Gone to California with Grand California Camper

Volkswagen is bringing the California XXL concept to production. It will debut at the Dusseldorf Caravan Salon as the Grand California. It’s set to be based on the medium wheelbase Crafter van. That’s the company’s full-size commercial van, larger than the T6 Transporter based California. The high roof means room for adults to stand up, though it won’t get the concept’s extended length. The Grand California offers a full wet bathroom. It’s not exactly spacious, though, measuring in at around 31.5 x 33-inches. A toilet, shower, and sink are all crammed into that space, but at least there are motion sensor lights to stop you from reaching for a switch. Standard, the Grand California it comes with berths for two adults. Space for two children is optional, but they’ll be stuck in a berth amove the driver’s area. The kitchen offers a sink, stove, and two fridges. The front seats swivel to add seating space when the RV is parked. It’s also got solar panels, an integrated satellite dish,...

Volkswagen Group Records Best Ever First-Half-of-Year Sales

With 5.5 million vehicles in customer hands after the first six months of 2018, the Volkswagen Group is seeing the best performance of its history. Group deliveries increased significantly in all core regions,” said Fred Kappler, head of sales for the Group. “Our core brands recorded strong growth in the first half year.” For the year-to-date, all of Volkswagen’s brands had sales bumps. MAN, SEAT, and Skoda led the sales charge with performances 24%, 17% and 11% better than the previous year. The big sellers, too, had strong sales periods, with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, and Volkswagen sales rising 3.5%, 4.5% and 6.3% respectively. That last figure is particularly good new for the board, since Volkswagen alone sold more than 3 million vehicles in the first half of 2018. As Kappler stated, the numbers are equally good when you break sales down by region. Brazil and Russia were the most improved markets (22% and 20%, respectively), while strong sales in Europe and China (u...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog