Mad Audi RS3 Schaeffler’s 1200bhp electric racer
Schaeffler turns RS3 TCR touring car racer into a four-motor, all-wheel drive electric dynamo
Automotive components giant Schaeffler has fitted an Audi RS3 with a unique 1200bhp, four-motor electric powertrain that can perform doughnuts from stationary with no steering angle to showcase the performance potential of EV technology.
The 4eperformance demo car is based on an RS3 TCR touring car racer, but has a powertrain system that uses technology taken from Audi’s Formula E racer. Schaeffler is a technical partner of the German firm’s team in the electric single-seater series.
The 4eperformance is fitted with four motors and inverters, each driving one wheel. A 64kwh battery contributes to a total weight of 1800kg – around 600kg more than the RS3 TCR car – but with so much power and torque, the car can do 62mph in 2.5sec and 124mph just four seconds later.
An all-wheel torque vectoring system means the car is also capable of spinning 360deg from standstill, with no steering angle. While that function has limited use, Schaeffler electronics engineer Gregor Gruber says it shows how electrification can change the driving experience.
“This car exists first to be a test bed and a demonstrator for our all-wheel torque vectoring capabilities,” he said. “There is clearly no practical application for making a car spin on the spot, but when you realise that all-wheel torque vectoring is so powerful it can make a car do exactly that, you begin to understand how much it can change the behaviour of the car in normal driving.
“The second reason this car exists is to showcase technology transfer from Formula E to something that’s more like a road car. The four motors and inverters are lifted from our Formula E car.”
With 92,000 employees around the globe, Schaeffler generated £12.4 billion in sales last year. It supplies powertrain, transmission and chassis technology to OEMS, and like many automotive suppliers has turned its attention to electric and hybrid drivetrains in recent years. Its new £53 million E-mobility centre in Buhl, Germany, will soon house 500 engineers and researchers.
As well as looking at ‘lastmile’ urban mobility devices, such as electrified scooters and autonomous pods, Schaeffler’s E-mobility division is also developing innovative hybrid powertrains (see below).
From the passenger seat of the 4eperformance, all-wheel torque vectoring feels like a game-changer for vehicle dynamics. Although huge stacks of batteries generally make such cars much heavier than those with internal combustion engines, they are far more agile and responsive.
What’s more, the 4eperformance accelerates so violently and in such an unrelenting way that you have to resist pleading with the driver to make it stop.
As head of E-mobility Jochen Schröder put it: “Electric drivetrains don’t only have to be about reducing carbon emissions.”