Audi RSQ E-Tron: Ready for Dakar

Audi's all-wheel-drive Quattro rally car was a game-changer at the World Rally Championship decades ago; more recently, the automaker was the first to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a hybrid powertrain. Now the automaker is turning its attention to one of the most extreme competitions on earth, the Dakar Rally, and combining know-how from both those previous endeavors. Audi will enter Dakar in 2022 with a newly developed hybrid machine that goes by the name of RSQ E-Tron. As a hybrid, the engine works as a generator that charges the battery while the car is in motion, as it spins a third electric motor. The motor reaches the highest efficiency between 4,500 and 6,000 rpm that also acts as a generator when braking. The function itself also helps the RSQ E-Tron recover its energy. This electric beast has the ability to generate a total of 671 horsepower, while also providing the driver with immense control and drivability.

The RS Q e-tron, uses a range-extender setup that borrows bits and pieces from Audi’s other motorsports programs. If you own an EV in the U.S., you’ll know that it can be pretty hard to find chargers, and unsurprisingly it’s even trickier to spot one in the middle of the desert. As a result, the vehicle’s 50.0-kWh battery is charged instead by a gasoline engine that acts as a generator. But it's not just any gas engine, it's the turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four from the Audi RS5 Turbo DTM, Audi’s last entry into DTM before exiting the series after the 2020 season.