Car Of The Week - Volkswagen ID R

EVs are really good at performance. Electric cars are quicker as they have much better acceleration off the line when compared to their combustion counterparts. Many car manufacturers already have electric car line ups for the masses. On the performance side of things, there are a lot of extremely capable hybrid supercars (work on a combination of combustion and electric) that are pushing the boundaries of car performance to another level. How far are we from seeing all-electric race cars? Soon! There are quite a few car manufacturers working on creating amazing all-electric race cars. The Volkswagen ID R is an all-electric race car that has been making quite a noise off late. We are going to tell you more about the first all-electric race car from German giant VW.

The Volkswagen (VW) ID R is an all-electric prototype race car that is part of the ID family of electric cars from VW. Like the other cars from the VW ID series, the VW ID R race car is also a prototype and not the fully ready production version yet. The car has been designed along with VW’s R division (R division is responsible for all VW race cars) with a clear intention of dominating and winning races globally. VW was a force to be reckoned with on the global motorsport circuit with multiple race victories to their name up until the infamous VW emission scandal. This led to VW pulling out of motorsport events like – World Rally Championship (WRC), Dakar Rally, 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The VW ID R made its global debut in March 2018, this not only announced the debut of VW’s first all-electric race car but also the company’s intention of returning to the global motorsport arena. The car made its competitive debut in June 2018 at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Colorado. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA the Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the most challenging races in the world. Also known as ‘The Race to the Clouds’ Pikes Peak is a 20 km stretch to the summit of Pikes Peak. The race is world-renowned for a series of over 156 turns, elevation changes, and very steep gradients. The Pikes Peak race is one of the most challenging around and pushes any car and driver who pursues it to their very limit. VW Motorsport roped in French racer Romain Dumas to drive the VW ID R. The car gave an excellent performance at the Pikes Peak race by clocking in a time of 7:57:148. This made the ID R the first car to complete the climb in under 8 minutes! Up next was the legendary Nürburgring in Germany. In 2019, with Romain Dumas at the driver's seat the VW ID R set a new record of 6:05:336 for electric vehicles. The was cornering at 3.49 G and hit a top speed of 273 km/hr. Later in 2019, the car also took part in the prestigious annual Goodwood Festival Of Speed Hill Climb in the UK. The VW ID R and Dumas again carried on their very successful partnership as the car set a new lap record of 39.90 seconds!

The record-setting machine is powered by 2 electric motors situated at each of the car axles (front and rear) producing 680 bhp of max power output and 649 nm of torque. The VW ID R weighs in under 1100 kg and can do a 0-100 km/hr time in 2.25 seconds…that’s quick, super quick!

The VW ID R is a first in a series of electric race cars, as confirmed by VW. If this is only the begging then bring it on! The future is electric…VW and we certainly believe so!