AUTOMOBILES: Electric Dakar – Invisible dog

When Daimler introduced its Mercedes SLS Electric concept eight years ago, James May rode it in Top Gear, it was one of the first drops of electric rain that promised to change motorsport.

Later, a little-known but even more brutal race to the top of Pikes Peak, Volkswagen built its special ID R EV in 2018 and completely controlled it.

And now it’s Audi’s turn. This has already secured several laurels in various special competitions, such as DTM / GT, but now the guys from Ingolstadt have decided to beat the competition, which is synonymous with the word adventure. Dakar.

For many of us who grew up in the late eighties and early nineties, it is a word associated with the ideas of the sand dunes of Africa and the burnt oil of the Kopřivnice Tatras, which the late Karel Loprais led to the finish line just before the start of this year.

As Mr. left Dakar, as well as the original location of Africa. It was first replaced by South America and is now being held for the second year in Saudi Arabia. Many competitors rated this year as one of the fastest and therefore the most brutal for technology. It was also carried away by specials from Audi with the name RS Q e-tron, which had no competition in the individual stages, but disappointed the suspension of the rear axle, so they looked at the expected overall victory only from a distance. Yet. I am absolutely sure that at this moment (I am writing these lines four months after the end of the Dakar) the machines are already disassembled to the last screw and we will not experience this year’s problem next year.

Why do I consider this car so essential that I have it in the viewfinder? Because for the first time it completely reversed the concept of cars powered by more or less electricity as we know it, and in a way unified the car scene. For both electricians and “oilers”, his work is considered a victory.

Until recently, there were either pure EV super specials, see the one from VW, which overcame the track in less than eight minutes, which it basically had to, because the batteries were only able to last only twelve minutes, or hybrids. Probably their best example, in addition to the mentioned circuit GTs, are the new WRC hybrids with 1.6-liter turbo engines coupled to a 100kW electric motor. By the way, one of the new participants in the race is Hyundai, who would expect that, right?

The principle of most racing hybrids, like the series ones, is the drive of one or even both axles by an internal combustion engine and the help of an electric motor when needed. For some time, the electric motor may even be the car’s main propulsion system, but still a good old combustion / petrol engine is connected to the wheels via a mechanical “something”. We’ll describe that later.

Audi has completely overturned this concept. The entire drive system is fully electric and any mechanical force from the internal combustion engine does not contribute to it. He is in the car only and only in order to “push” the batteries in conjunction with the generator.

The more knowledgeable will argue that this is nothing new under the sun, that good diesel-electric locomotives have been working well for centuries, and they will be absolutely right. But this was the first time that the technology was tested on the road in real operation, ie in the plant.
It has its undeniable advantages. Especially in this arrangement, the internal combustion engine can operate in the most efficient mode in all circumstances, i.e. with the least amount of exhaust gases. Thanks to the purely electric drive, the power curve is very balanced, acceleration is immediate and up to maximum speed.

But it also has disadvantages. The capacity of the batteries must be calculated very carefully so that they do not completely discharge during a long “pushing on the saw”. The batteries themselves then experience much larger, I would not even be afraid to say more brutal energy fluctuations, when they are charged and discharged at almost the same time. This must necessarily reduce their lifespan in a fairly rapid way. In fact, they act like a giant supercapacitor. Energy flows through them back and forth as programmed by the racing team’s engineers into the control unit. And that they really had to have a lot of work to do.

Let’s describe the situation, let’s see the difference between the older version of the hybrid concept and this new one.

Let’s start with the novelty:

The driver comes to this car and instead of starting it just turns on the system. Basically like pressing the ON button on a home computer. The magic behind this machine checks all systems, checks the state of charge of the batteries and prepares the electric motors for operation. In reality, this moment is shorter than starting a modern car with the same looking button. The car can start immediately, powered by pure battery power. After a short moment, the electronics also checks the condition of the internal combustion engine and starts it. Or not. Depending on the driving profile program, this interval can last for seconds or even tens of minutes. All this time, the car is a truly purebred electric car. But it is certain that in the end the system will evaluate that it is time to start the engine. He will not need a starter, he will use a generator to spin the crankshaft, he will start the fuel pump, thanks to the valve timing sensors he will know exactly when the injection should let the fuel into the cylinders and when the spark plug should ignite the mixture.

In a way, it’s a similar procedure to a plane launch a hundred years ago, only instead of a brave mechanic spinning a propeller, there’s a generator, and instead of a pilot waiting for a “Contact!” Signal, the computing unit is a million times more powerful than the entire Apollo mission.

For a while, the engine will only work to warm up to operating temperature and reach optimum speed. He will still not be involved in the propulsion of the car, he will even take some energy from the batteries. When the moment comes when the computer evaluates that it is time and the generator, which has so far only driven apart from starting the engine, becomes an electric machine.

If until now it was a yawn for electronics, from that moment on, on the contrary, it will sweat a lot. The same amount of energy will still go from the generator to the batteries, hence the common electrical system (for simplicity, there will certainly be several modes, including “we go uphill for a long time at full throttle and we need everything”) and the second source of that energy will be the batteries themselves . On the contrary, electric motors will absorb this energy as much and drivers will step on it mightily. So in the case of Dakar, they weren’t afraid of it at all. So the electronics will have to solve the dilemma of whether to send electrons from the generator directly to the electric motors, or to stuff some of it into the battery cells, so that in an instant (often only the next) it is possible to extract from there to eternally hungry electric motors.

For the ignorant eye, it is practically the same as all hybrids have done so far, but the opposite is true. Therefore, let’s describe this set as well:

The hybrids used a rather mechanical system, where the common point was not an electronic control unit, but a mechanical connection of an electric and internal combustion engine plus a generator, most often in some form of planetary gearbox. For the uninitiated, a planetary gearbox does not have to have only one input and output and a variable predetermined number of gears between, as we know from current cars, but each input can also be an output (here a generator and an electric motor) and their transfer is completely smooth.

This is not a stupid solution, because it basically replaces the original (larger in volume) internal combustion engine with a gearbox. But it only works up to a certain size of all its components. The moment the electric motor is more powerful, everything no longer fits under the common hood and the electricity then usually drives one axle (often the rear) and the oil the front. Which means more mechanics, and as you know, as soon as something can rub against you, it also does, very aggressively and best into self-destruction.

With its solution, Audi elegantly bypasses most of the mechanics. At best, this design means that each wheel has its own electric motor directly connected permanently, without gears, even without a differential between the sides or axles. Likewise, the engine and generator assembly is firmly connected. This can then be literally enchanted by software in ways that the mechanics can no longer handle. Each turn can be driven to the nearest millimeter without loss of power or adhesion. Even if there is a different material under each tire. Which is a typical situation for the Dakar. But not only there. The programming of this system will make it possible to drive safely on ice, on a dusty road or, and this sounds a bit curious in connection with Dakar, also in the parking lot. Thanks to the fact that the motors on the individual wheels on the same side can go against each other, so to speak, the turning radius becomes an outdated deadline. This car can turn at its own center. The parking space only an inch larger than the car itself no longer has to be just for stuntmen entering there by skidding, the button on the center tablet “find parking” will solve it with the help of sensors for busy mothers with two children in the back seats.

All these innovations and conveniences were the reason why the supporters of electromobility declared this car their victory.

At the same time, supporters of traditional engines did so, because only and only with the help of a two-liter masturbated monster in place of rear seats with a tank the size of a smaller tanker, this miracle of electrical engineering went further than the starting line.

However, the truth is that neither group won. The price of these specials, similar to the circuit ones, is practically incalculable. There is a whisper of five million Euros per piece on the corridors, which can be trusted quite well. This means that, paradoxically, if you are not a kerosene sheikh, you will never ride this car. And that most of the technologies used in it reach the common man about as much as the once-acclaimed KERS, which is now practically only available on London buses. But you can ride that. Only the speed will be a bit different than on the F1 circuits.

Electricity has changed motorsport often beyond recognition. Some of the features of electric motors cannot be overcome by even the greatest vigilantes. But even the most optimistic cannot claim that it will go without oil right away. Here is the word synergy probably the most convenient term to use. Here, somewhere you can symbolically shake hands between otherwise completely hostile camps. But it seems that only here. In the real world, without the tinsel of the adventures of sand dunes, epic panoramas of rocky mountains illuminated by the hot sun, hate rhetoric is unsportsmanlike, legs are undermined, obstacles are put in the name of imaginary goodness, they lie and insidiously cheat.

Maybe we all need a little bit of the sun, the sand, and the distance from the ground. The sight of a machine rushing through the wasteland is just worth it.

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