Will Electric Car Racing Be Better? World Rallycross Thinks So

Just as horses remain popular for racing while not being a regular form of transport anymore, motor racing will be one of the last preserves of the internal combustion engine as other forms of vehicle go electric. But one race series has bitten the bullet and is switching over right now. Rallycross has been running on fossil fuel for over 50 years, and the FIA accredited World Rallycross (RX) version since 2014. Starting this weekend, World RX has ditched dinosaur juice and chosen a fully electrified future.

The inaugural all-electric World RX race is taking place (perhaps appropriately) in Hell, Norway. World RX has had a secondary RX2e series that uses EVs for a couple of years, but from now on the main RX1 series will be electric too, becoming RX1e. Rallycross, as the name suggests, is a hybrid of offroad rally driving with on-track racing. The tracks span both tarmac and gravel, making them extremely challenging for drivers, who have to master handling the cars on both types of surfaces.

When rallycross was invented in 1967, it was aimed at TV, and to make them more broadcast-friendly the races are short and full of action. The tracks are twisty, often very hilly, and the cars only have to complete a few laps in each session. So powerful acceleration is essential, but there is no need to last for hours. This makes rallycross a perfect candidate for electric cars, which provide huge power and torque from the moment you touch the accelerator but might not manage a very long session when this is deployed most of the time.

World RX officially announced its plans to go electric back in 2020. There had been discussions as far back as 2018 for a 2020 debut, but this was with the series’ previous promoter and the deadline slipped when the partnership changed. In a sport so popular with sustainability-conscious Scandinavians, the eco-friendly angle on electrifying World RX could have been the main focus. However, the drivers are also claiming that the new electric cars will be much faster than the previous internal combustion ones. Some are even saying they don’t want to go back to combustion again. After testing the drivetrain installed in a “mule” rally car in Austria, 2021 WRC-2 and European Rally Championship winner Andreas Mikkelsen said he couldn’t remember when he had smiled so much from a car’s acceleration.

The drivetrain is common across all the cars and has been supplied by Kreisel. The batteries Kreisel provides can deliver 500kW of power (equivalent to 680hp) to an all-wheel drive motor system for the full duration of a race, with a huge 880Nm of torque. The secret behind this is a cooling system using dieletric fluid (which doesn’t conduct electricity) across individual cells. This can also be supplemented with a trackside conditioner, something Formula E also does, to keep them at optimal temperature. World RX expects the packs to last four years of racing. Kreisel is also supplying high-performance battery systems to pioneering electric powerboat maker X Shore, so is making a name for itself as a vendor of specialist batteries meant for speed in other areas too.

This 52kWh pack only weighs 330kg, and with other savings the cars come in at around 1,400kg. That means a power-to-weight ratio close to 500hp per (metric) ton. A Formula 1 car has a much higher power-to-weight ratio but being rear-wheel-drive can’t necessarily lay this down as well as the all-wheel-drive electric World RX car. The RX1e’s 0-62mph sprint time is sub-two seconds, making it faster accelerating than a current F1 car.

The World RX electric racer already set a lap record at Höljes in Sweden, which was supposed to be the racing debut for the electric car, but supply issues delayed the launch until Hell. Quadruple FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson, who also won the inaugural season of Extreme E, says: “I think fans are going to be surprised by the performance and speed.” Newcomer Klara Anderson, a 22-year-old who is also making history as the first woman to compete in the top FIA-accredited rallycross World series, describes the acceleration as “brutal”.

The World RX focus on sustainability doesn’t stop at the cars’ drivetrains. The series tire partner, Cooper Tires, has been trying to do its bit. Its World RX tires for the RX1e have been reduced in weight by 400g each while being made of tougher material to cope with the extra torque of an EV. The company has also been experimenting with bio oils during manufacture and dandelions as a source of natural rubber, although the latter is only at the experimental stage so far. Even the partner for building the track, Volvo, has a sustainability mission. All its smaller site equipment was electric at Hell, although only one of its larger machines was – a huge digger, which sat proudly above the track.

This is a bold move from World RX. There will of course be resistance. Some diehards will likely consider this shift a travesty. If you like your motorsport to be deafening and smelly, much quieter and cleaner electric racing will take some getting used to. But the proof of the pudding will be in the racing. The signs are that the RX1e cars will be quicker than the previous generation, and soon could be much quicker once the teams get used to getting the most out of them. As World RX driver Timmy Hansen says: “I just love driving fast cars, and it’s a fast car.”