Discuss: Volkswagen’s all-electric ID 4 gets dirty in Baja
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Champion driver Tanner Foust missed the starting line of the 2021 National Off Road Racing Association Mexican 1000 off-road rally. To be fair, it wasn’t his fault. He was driving the electric Volkswagen ID 4 and the official directing traffic didn’t hear him coming. This silent SUV didn’t look like it would survive nearly 1,000 miles of grueling terrain, but five days later it crossed the finish line with hardly a problem, even coming in on the same set of Yokohama Geolander A/T tires it started on.Similar to the Baja 1000, the Mexican 1000 takes racers through some of the most desolate parts of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Taking place over five days, this year’s rally started in Ensenada, moved south to San Felipe and Bay of Los Angeles before coming back north for one more night in San Felipe, followed by the finish line in Ensenada. Teams weren’t able to prerun the course, but everyone had a GPS track and a roadbook that called out any dangers. Prepped by veteran fabricator and Baja racing team owner Rhys Millen, the ID 4 was upgraded with a set of rally shocks, skid plates and 18-inch wheels wrapped with those Geolanders, size 255/70. A cage was added for safety, as were Sparco racing seats and five-point harnesses. An additional screen with battery information kept the team apprised of remaining range, battery capacity and temperatures. A roll cage, Sparco racing seats, five-point harnesses and an additional screen with battery information were added to the ID 4’s cabin.
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VW doesn’t yet offer an all-wheel-drive ID 4, so car No. 134 put its power down through the rear wheels only, a risky proposition in Baja for reasons that will soon become clear. The 82-kilowatt-hour battery is good for 250 miles or so of range in the best conditions, while the electric motor can push out 201 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque.Volkswagen wasn’t really sure how far the ID 4 would go on one charge in Baja. The car’s range estimator takes into account the previous few days of driving when making its calculations, and since every day of the rally is so different, it’s really a crapshoot. Instead, driver Tanner Foust and Volkswagen engineer and co-driver Aldrich To kept track of consumption, trying to keep it at an average 1.6 miles per kWh. Too much speed and this figure would dip — although that didn’t stop Foust from hitting 107 mph on a dry lakebed — but the average could be brought back up on the flatter dirt roads.Charging came courtesy of a trailer with a 50-kW charger powered by a biofuel generator. Using a generator to charge isn’t exactly the optimal procedure, but the team had to work with the infrastructure they had. Mexico has plenty of fuel stations these days, but charging stations, not so much. During the pavement transit sections of the race, the ID 4 went into its trailer, simultaneously making the journey to the next special stage while recharging the battery.
Volkswagen
Day 1 marked the ID 4’s biggest mechanical failure. During the first special stage the aftermarket rear shock mounts broke. Foust was able to complete the stage where the team swapped those aftermarket rally shocks with the stock setup, leading to a fairly bouncy rear end for the rest of the rally, slowing the car down a bit. Then again, it’s not like the ID 4 was ever quick. You can only go so fast with roughly 7 inches of ground clearance and not much more wheel travel than what comes as stock.Day 2 was where the physical limitations of the ID 4 came into play, and of course it was when I was behind the wheel. The ID 4 had its own LS-powered buggy acting as a sweep car. The idea was that if the ID 4 got stuck, the buggy could pull it out and we wouldn’t have to wait for the official recovery vehicle from NORRA. The buggy, however, was having some wiring issues, leading it to overheat, so it wasn’t always directly behind the ID 4.The other thing you need to know is that the ID 4 was not carrying any recovery gear. If you’ve read any of my off-roading stories you’ll know I don’t go anywhere without a set of Maxtrax, but the team assumed the buggy would always be with the ID 4, so self-recovery wouldn’t be needed.All of this came into play as we — Foust riding right seat and me behind the wheel — turned a corner and encountered soft, deep sand with 2-foot-deep ruts, leading to a slight uphill. It’s possible to get a rear-wheel drive vehicle through soft sand, but it requires momentum. To keep momentum you need clearance and travel, and we had neither. We managed to get off the course but got stuck. Our recovery buggy? Behind us somewhere with an overheated motor.Foust and I did the best we could, trying to dig out with some flip flops he had stored in the car for after the race. We put rocks in front of and behind the tires, aired down, saw a few snakes… the rear-wheel drive ID 4 wasn’t going anywhere without a tow or some Maxtrax.Pulling the ID 4 behind the recovery buggy gave us an opportunity to charge the battery mid-race.
Volkswagen
When the recovery buggy finally got to us, it too got stuck in the sand, and then the official NORRA recovery vehicle met the same fate. Finally our large chase truck found a hard-packed dirt access road and came with some recovery boards, and we were back on the move in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, we had lost too much time and the stage closed before we could reach that day’s finish line.The rest of the rally, however, was pretty much problem-free. The ID 4 needed a tow charge to finish a 167-mile special stage; towing it behind the sweep buggy resulted in 20 kW of regenerative-energy charging. And no, there’s nothing in the rules that says a vehicle can’t refuel while completing an individual stage. In fact, many of the gas-powered race cars had to refuel on the longer stages. They did it with a gas can. The Volkswagen did it with a tow.I took over driving duties for one more stage, leaning on the ID 4’s regenerative braking system so that I never had to touch the mechanical brakes. Driving the ID 4 was much like piloting the Rivian R1T in the Rebelle Rally — use the regen braking as much as possible, going smooth on the throttle, finding the best lines and try not to screw it all up. With a rally champion riding shotgun you can bet I was nervous, but Foust was gracious, offering up a free driving lesson as we guided the ID 4 across Baja.We’re winners! Kind of.
Volkswagen
In the end, the longest special stage the ID 4 was able to complete was 113 miles, and the car averaged 1.6 miles per kWh across the whole week. If you want to look at that number as overall range on the dirt, the Volkswagen averaged 125 miles on a charge, about half of the 250-mile range you should get on paved roads in normal driving.The ID 4 didn’t win the NORRA Mexican 1000. In fact, it came in 61st place out of 64 finishers, with 26 racers not finishing at all. However, the ID 4 was the only electric vehicle to complete; the fact that it’s production based is just icing on the cake. Lordstown Motors recently attempted to run its Endurance pickup truck in the San Felipe 250, but only made it 38 miles. Thanks to careful planning and logistics, the Volkswagen ID 4 completed 840 miles of punishing dirt racing. Now it’s up to other manufacturers, and privateers, to come down to Baja and beat it. More
Finally, the life-size electric buggy we’ve always dreamed of.
The Little Car Company
If you’re an automotive enthusiast “of a certain age,” then it’s likely that you went through a remote-controlled car phase, and if you did that, then the name Tamiya likely looms large in your memory.There are a bunch of really memorable Tamiya models like the Sand Scorcher and the Hornet, but the one that will forever hold a special place in our hearts is the Wild One. The 1/10th scale buggy with its boxy bodywork and ’80s-tastic stripes and decals was not only great to look at, it was a blast to drive, and we always wished we could drive one for real.
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Of course, now, we’re grown up, and while we’d like to think that our tastes and desires have matured, that desire to drive a real Wild One never went away. Thankfully, the Little Car Company — aka the folks behind the electric Bugatti Baby — is making those dreams a real possibility with the Wild One Max.It will even be delivered in a giant Tamiya box in kit form.
The Little Car Company
That’s right, the Little Car Company partnered with Tamiya and is creating a real Wild One at 8/10 scale that you can hop in and drive yourself. Like the Bugatti Baby, the Wild One Max is electric. It’s powered by a 5.5 horsepower electric motor that will propel the Wild One to a top speed of 30 mph, which we suspect will be plenty fast.The Wild One Max is 137.8 inches long and 70.8 inches wide and weighs just 551 pounds, which means that performance should feel pretty brisk, despite the somewhat tame motor package. Even better is that the Little Car Company will offer modular Power Packs to increase range and performance.And any dyed-in-the-wool Tamiya nerd knows about Hop-Up kits. In news that delights us to no end, the Wild One Max will have its own catalog of available Hop-Up kits for purchase, including Road Legal Packs that will make the Wild One Max legal for road use in the US, UK and Europe.The Tamiya/Little Car Company Wild One Max is set to retail for $8,250 in the US and should launch officially in 2022.
Bugatti Baby II is an electric scaled-down Type 35 race car for kids
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Discuss: Volkswagen ID 4 goes safari style for the Mexican 1000
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I still need Honda to bring this car to the US. Please and thank you.
Honda
Honda on Friday laid out ambitious targets for its business: It wants to phase out all engines in production cars by 2040. According to Honda’s new CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, a mix of electric vehicles and fuel-cell powertrains will take their place.The specific goals call for Honda to ramp up its share of EV and fuel-cell vehicles in the coming years, starting with 40% of all cars sold globally featuring one of the zero-emissions powertrains by 2030. The share under these plans moves to 80% by 2035 and finally 100% by 2040, effectively ending the internal-combustion engine at Honda. Can VTEC kick in with batteries?The automaker again confirmed it has two large EV models under joint development with GM and publicly disclosed for the first time that one will be for Honda — and the other for Acura. Rumor has it they’ll be a pair of electric SUVs GM will also build for Honda at two of its North America production sites. However, Honda won’t simply task GM with all the EV development work.The company said it plans for a new electric car platform in the second half of this decade dubbed the “e:Architecture.” We’ll see a “series” of new EVs based on the platform in the years to come. Honda said it’ll first launch in North America before heading to other parts of the world. In tandem, Mibe said the company will launch extensive research and development initiatives into solid-state batteries — with the goal of putting such a battery into production by decade’s end. On the hydrogen side, Honda plans to continue working with GM via another joint venture: a focus on commercial trucks and other power sources.
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The SF90 is Ferrari’s first plug-in model, but a fully electric model is coming.
Ferrari
Light your torches and gather your pitchforks, keyboard warriors, because Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle is coming sooner than we initially thought. According to a report Thursday by Automotive News Europe, it’s coming in 2025.That’s right, a Ferrari without a wild, screaming engine or an absurd maintenance schedule (probably) is coming in the near future. Ferrari Chairman John Elkann confirmed as much during the company’s annual meeting.
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“We are very excited about our first all-electric Ferrari that we plan to unveil in 2025. We are continuing to execute our electrification strategy in a highly disciplined way,” Elkann said.Now, that leaves us to wonder a few things. First, what kind of EV will this be? Will this be a successor to the LaFerrari — a car in the same lineage as the F40, F50 and Enzo? Or will this be a production model to replace or sit alongside the company’s more conventional mid-engine and Berlinetta models?Regardless of what happens with the EV, Ferrari is shaping up to have a busy few years. Not only is it planning on debuting three new models in the next few months — again, according to Elkann — but we’re also expecting to see its long-awaited answer to the Lamborghini Urus SUV, aka the Purosangue.We reached out to Ferrari for comment but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
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Chinese data will be stored in China, Tesla says.
Tesla/Craig Cole/Roadshow
In news that should shock absolutely no one, Tesla has pledged that any data its cars collect in China will remain in the country, Indian business site Mint reported on Tuesday. There are concerns these all-electric vehicles’ cameras could record sensitive information in the communist nation.”Tesla China is a company that’s based here and must abide by all Chinese laws and regulations,” Grace Tao, Tesla’s head of communications and government affairs in the People’s Republic, told Mint. She added that any information collected in the country will be well protected. “Chinese data will be stored in China.”The news comes after Teslas were banned from Chinese military facilities in March over concerns about data collection, even though the automaker said its vehicles’ built-in cameras are disabled outside North America. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.China is a hugely important market for Tesla, indeed, for practically every automaker. Operating in the most populous nation on Earth, one with a middle class that’s estimated to be around 400 million people, or more than the entire population of the US, is a must for any car company with global ambitions. But whether it’s China, Chile, Canada or Cameroon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has no choice but to play by the local rules in order to sell his cars.
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The all-electric iX SUV pushes BMW’s controversial styling direction even further forward.
BMW
BMW is charging ahead with even more expansive electric vehicles and increased sustainability efforts, as outlined at its annual conference that kicked off Wednesday in Munich, Germany. The luxury automaker says it expects around 50% of its global sales to be battery-electric vehicles by 2030. Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board, made the following statement: “By the end of 2025, we will have delivered a total of around two million fully-electric vehicles to customers. We will also be growing our sales of fully electric models by well over 50% per year over the next few years — more than 10 times the figure for 2020.” BMW i4 sedanAs part of a broad portfolio of announcements, BMW showed the first images of its new i4 electric sedan and revealed that the model is three months ahead of schedule. Due for production this year, the 4-Series-Gran-Coupe-based i4 is predicted to offer up to 300 miles of range on the US EPA test cycle. The EV’s Munich-based production plant is powered by Bavarian hydroelectric plants. This is part of the automaker’s drive to curb factory emissions 80% by 2030.
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BMW iX SUVPerhaps more importantly, given global sales trends, BMW also unveiled its new iX crossover SUV during the two-day conference. Riding atop a new platform, the iX has been developed on a foundation of greener materials, including greater use of recycled plastics and aluminum, as well as leather tanned via olive leaf extracts and floor mats made from used fishing nets. The all-electric challenger to Tesla’s Model X flagship and Audi’s growing E-Tron range is confirmed to deliver 300 miles of range. It’s expected to arrive in the US in early 2022, carrying a starting price tag of around $85,000. The two-motor iX xDrive50 model will offer in excess of 500 hp and hit 62 mph in under 5 seconds en-route to a governed top speed of 124 mph. Even BMW’s entry-level, single-motor iX xDrive40 will still deliver over 300 horsepower, enabling 0-62mph acceleration runs in just over 6 seconds. It’s not immediately clear, however, whether this less-powerful variant will be offered in North America.While certainly swift, it’s worth noting that neither of these iX models would appear to offer specifications that best Tesla’s Model X Long Range — the SUV’s base model — which delivers an estimated 360 miles of range and hits 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. (It’s worth noting that repeated real-world tests have shown Tesla’s mileage figures to be best-case scenarios while legacy automakers have been conservative in their calculations, routinely overdelivering on range by a substantial margin.)BMW will open US pre-orders for the new iX SUV in July.BMW Neue KlasseAs part of the two-day conference, BMW also confirmed a previously unknown generation of vehicles, the Neue Klasse (or “New Class”) coming from 2025. Boasting new modular powertrains and higher degrees of automated driving, these EVs will incorporate next-generation batteries and software, as well as a “sharply increased” amount of recycled materials, the automaker said in a statement. Details are few, but BMW says the Neue Klasse has “the ultimate aim of matching the range and manufacturing cost of state-of-the-art combustion engines.”It’s also worth noting that Neue Klasse is also the name of a series of groundbreaking BMW models, which began in 1962 with the 1500 sedan.
Mini goes all-in on EVsAs had been rumored, the BMW Group’s Mini brand will transition to be 100% electric “by the early 2030s.” The company’s last new model to debut with a combustion engine will bow in 2025. BMW’s retro-styled small-car city brand has struggled for relevance in recent years, with slipping sales exacerbated by a lack of SUV models. Today, Mini only offers one all-electric model, the low-cost, city-focused Cooper SE, which has been a sales sales bright spot for the brand.BMW still investing in hydrogenWhile BMW’s focus will be on expanding its battery-electric vehicle (BEV) range, the automaker also confirmed plans to release a small series of BMW i Hydrogen NEXT models, though it isn’t clear where those vehicles will be made available, or how. In a press statement, the company noted “we could also imagine it as a production vehicle,” which suggests that the i Hydrogen NEXT might be a part of a pilot program, not a traditionally manufactured vehicle available for purchase or lease. BMW previously showed an X5 SUV-based i Hydrogen NEXT concept with fuel-cell technology developed with Toyota, a brand it’s been working with on the tech since at least 2013.BMW iDrive 8As part of the run-up to its annual conference, BMW also revealed details of its next-generation iDrive 8 infotainment system. The new 5G-capable hardware will arrive first in the automaker’s range of EVs, and it includes an unusual curved display and improved tech, including an avatar-like presence when a user summons the digital voice assistant. The system will bow on the new i4 and iX models.Despite these massive ongoing investments in electrification and digitalization technologies, BMW is boosting profit predictions for 2021 to 6% to 8%, more than double the 2.7% profit return in pandemic-stricken 2020. More
