The Paris-Dakar Rally is one of the toughest tests in international motorsport, pitting cars against blazing heat and shifting sand dunes. Acciona has become the first team to survive the torture test in an all-electric car, completing the 2017 event in the (catchily named) Acciona 100% EcoPowered.
The EcoPowered draws on a 250 kW (340 hp) synchronous electric motor, attached to all four wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox. There are six fast-charging lithium-ion batteries totalling 150 kWh within the chassis, supplemented by a 100 W solar panel on the roof. Each battery pack can be charged individually for faster pit stops, crucial in the fast and furious world of racing, while low-rolling resistance tires help to improve range.
This was the third time Acciona has tried to complete the Dakar. Having failed to complete the race in 2015, the team shifted focus and managed to complete the OiLybia International Morocco Rally. Using lessons learned in that competition, the 100% EcoPowered managed to complete 80 percent of the 2016 Dakar, but still fell short of the finish line.
It's a decent milestone for Electric Vehicles (EVs). How soon until such headlines disappear because EVs are so commonplace?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Thursday January 26 2017, @02:36PM
But it came 57th in class this year, you say? The most competitive class, at that, the "car" class?
Yeah, but there were only 57 finishers in that class. It lost. It was the charity case handicapped kid that everyone who doesn't want to look bad cheers for as they hobble around the track. It was a third of the speed of a real car.
It was also slower than everything in the "bike" class that finished.
It was also slower than everything in the "quad" class that finished.
It was also slower than everything in the "utv" class that finished.
It was also slower than everything in the "truck" class that finished.
The *only* take away from this story is that *it finished*. It didn't do well. It did abysmally. It simply finished.
I'm sure they'll work out what went wrong (over a third of your time being penalties is a sure sign that there's something that you can improve which isn't just speed), and have another stab next year, and hopefully do better, maybe not even be last of the finishers. But they're still the hobbling cripple nowhere even near the actual pack, and will remain that way for quite some time.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @07:09PM
To be fair it seems they took a bit of a detour:
I'm pretty sure the rest of the competitors stayed out of the western hemisphere entirely.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by davester666 on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:27PM
It's now just known as the Dakar rally, and it has been moved to run through South America now, as going through the African section was considered too dangerous to safely go through.
I don't expect electric vehicles to be able to seriously compete with combustion vehicles in this race unless they change the race to have
-more mechanics stops, so the cars don't have to carry as much battery weight
-let them replace the batteries instead of charge them
Gas/Diesel beats electric for power-weight ratio (weight of battery vs amount of gas to go a given distance), as well as for time spent refilling vs recharging.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday January 27 2017, @10:07AM
You don't recharge diesel, you replace it. With chemical energy stores that have been placed, in advance, where they will want to pick it up.
Forcing electric vehicles to recharge is an artifice, they should also simply be able to pick up their electrochemical energy stores that have been placed along the way for them.
That would aid in levelling the field a little.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2017, @06:05AM
So... flush the electrolyte with a hose, and use cool pneumatic bolt drivers to replace the electrodes, just like with gas and wheels for guzzlers?