Pikes Peak International Hill Climb preview: why Volkswagen is going for new record

“At the start of 2017, we looked at what motorsport projects we could do with a full electric car and we quickly came to Pikes Peak,” says VW Motorsport boss Sven Smeets. “It’s the perfect event because it has an electric record and a lot of challenges. We can show that an electric car can be emotional.”

That electric record, incidentally, is 8min 57.118sec, set by Rhys Millen in a Drive e0 PP100 in 2016.

Why the ID R looks is a prototype, not a rally car

First run in 1916, Pikes Peak was dominated for years by rally drivers and rally-based machines. But that changed when the course was fully paved in 2012 and it’s no surprise that the ID R looks more like a Le Mans prototype than an off-roader — albeit one with a bigger wing and more extreme aero.

“The electric record was set by a prototype, so you have to go in that direction if you want to beat the record,” says Smeets. “Aero is still very important going up the hill. You can’t just rake a road car and add a 500kW battery.”

As a result, you won’t find many parts from VW’s previous works motorsport effort, the Polo WRC. “I think the wheel nuts are the same, but that’s it,” notes Demaison. 

The ID R’s monocoque is based on the Norma prototype that Romain Dumas, who will drive the car at Pikes Peak, has used to win the event outright in three of the past four years. Doing so allowed VW to shortcut some of the early learning when it came to the chassis. 

“Norma has huge experience of Pikes Peak and hill-climbing, so it was the best choice for the first year, because we have no reference there,” says Demaison.

VW also used the Norma design for the basic aerodynamics, which were then developed with the help of engineers from sister firm Porsche, using its recent Le Mans experience. The car sits on ZF Sachs double wishbone suspension, with passive dampers.

The lack of oxygen at high altitude makes the aerodynamics less efficient, hence why Pikes Peak machines generally sport massive wings. The rear wing of this ID R, for example, is 2.4 metres wide — this isn’t without its problems. “It doesn’t fit in the transporter,” laughs Demaison. “We have to remove it and put it in sideways.”

The ID R’s battery technology

While impressive, the aero isn’t the really interesting bit of this car. “The aero is known science,” says Demaison. “The challenge is the electric powertrain and battery package — and the most difficult bit is to keep it light.”

The EV powertrain is all VW and is something of a test bed to develop the technology for the forthcoming range of ID road cars. 

As with some versions of those cars being developed, the ID R has an electric motor driving each axle to give permanent four-wheel drive, with batteries located under the floor to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible.

The two motors combine to offer 671bhp with 470lb ft of torque. With the ID R weighing less than 1100kg, VW claims the machine can do 0-62mph in 2.25sec, with a top speed of 149mph.

While those stats are impressive, the headline figures are dwarfed by the power levels of some previous EV machines to run on the hill; Millen’s record holder, for example, had peak power of 1596bhp.

But VW bosses reckon power output isn’t everything. “It’s a compromise between weight and power,” says Smeets. “We may have gone a bit different from others.”

VW is still finalising the exact number of batteries that will be fitted to the car, with the need to balance the energy they carry with keeping the weight as low as possible. 

“The batteries in the ID R are more advanced [than the ID road car batteries] because the demands on them are higher, but we’re working closely with engineers from Braunschweig [VW’s EV battery plant] on their development,” Smeets explains.

“The role of weight and performance is very different for the ID R than an electric road car. We don’t need enough power to do 300 miles, just 12.42. But the compromise is similar in balancing weight and power.

"Using the ID R, we can also learn about how to optimise the positions of the batteries and related components.”

While altitude won’t sap the ID R’s power, it does make cooling a challenge, especially with all those batteries. “The higher you get, the hotter everything gets,” says Smeets. “That’s been a big challenge to conquer.”

The need to add extra cooling would hinder the performance of the aero, so this is why VW might choose to limit the ID R’s power in a bid to balance performance all the way up the hill.

The ID R will be fitted with a kinetic energy recovery device to charge the batteries under braking, with the team estimating 20% of the power it uses on the run will be generated that way.

Demaison adds: “It’s a compromise because regeneration increases the temperature of the battery, and that costs you performance. The batteries don’t like to be too hot or too cold. 30-70deg C is where we want to operate them.”

Even simply charging the batteries will be a challenge for VW. The start line of the climb is at mile eight of the Pikes Peak toll road, 9390ft above sea level up a mountain; you won’t find an EV fast charger there. So the firm will use two Formula E-style chargers, powered by a generator fuelled by glycerol (a non-toxic sugar alcohol), with a total output of 90kW. 

That low output — which can charge the ID R batteries to full in around 20 minutes — is to limit heat build-up, which is a challenge when the temperature at the start point can soar at this time of year. 

Notably, the glycerol generator doesn’t just charge the ID R, but it does power all the electric devices in the pit area — including the coffee machine (a particularly important tool, given that the team will need to arrive around 2:30am most days to prepare for the early morning runs).