Audi wants to be the first can manufacturer to compete for overall victory against conventionally powered competitors in the world’s toughest rally using an electrified drivetrain in conjunction with an efficient energy converter. “The Quattro revolutionized the World Rally Championship. Audi was the first manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with an electrified drivetrain. Now, we want to usher in a new era at the Dakar Rally, while testing and further developing our e-tron technology under extreme conditions,” says Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for motorsport at Audi. “Our RS Q e-tron was created on a blank sheet of paper in record time and stands for Vorsprung durch Technik.”

The features of the Dakar Rally give unique challenges to the engineers. The marathon event lasts two weeks, with daily stages lasting up to 800 km. “That’s a very long distance,” says Andreas Roos, responsible for the Dakar project at Audi Sport. “ What we are trying to do has never been done before. This is the ultimate challenge for an electric drivetrain.”

Due to the lack of charging options in the desert, Audi has chosen an innovative charging concept: The highly efficient TFSI engine from the DTM powers the Audi RS Q e-tron. It is a component of an energy converter that charges the high-voltage battery while the vehicle is in motion.

The Audi RS Q e-tron has an electric drivetrain. The front and rear axles are both outfitted with a motor-generator unit (MGU) from the current Audi e-tron FE07 Formula E car, which Audi Sport has built for the 2021 season. To use the MGU in the Dakar Rally, only modest changes were required.

A third identically designed MGU is part of the energy converter and serves to recharge the high-voltage battery while driving. Furthermore, energy is recovered when braking. The battery weighs about 370 kilograms and has a capacity of around 50 kWh.

“The battery is also a proprietary development that we have realized together with a partner,” says Stefan Dreyer, Head of Development at Audi Sport for motorsport projects. “As engineers, we basically see development potential in every component. But in terms of the drivetrain system, we have already achieved a system efficiency of over 97 percent in Formula E. There’s not much more room for improvement. The situation is quite different with battery and energy management. This is where the greatest development potential lies in electromobility in general. What we learn from the extremely challenging Dakar project will flow into future production models. As always, we are also working closely with our colleagues from road car development on this project.”

The e-maximum drivetrain's system power is 500 kW. The organizers are still deciding how much of this will be used during the Dakar Rally. There are numerous advantages of using an electric drivetrain. The electric motors can be controlled extremely precisely and can thus ensure good drivability. In addition, braking energy can be recovered.

The Audi RS Q e-tron prototype made its public debut in Neuburg in early July. From now until the end of the year, an intense test program and the first test entries at cross-country rallies are on the agenda.

Andreas Roos describes the project's schedule as "very busy and hard." “The initiative has been officially launched for less than a year. We had to start working on the project before the legislation for alternatively powered vehicles was even approved. And it all happened during the Corona pandemic. That, too, should not be overlooked. What the team has achieved so far is unique. The roll-out was a very special moment for everyone.”