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VW EV Sets Pikes Peak Record

Volkswagen AG set a new record in the annual race to the top of Pikes Peak on Sunday with a time of seven minutes and 57 seconds in a specially developed electric race car.
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Volkswagen AG set a new record in the annual race to the top of Pikes Peak on Sunday with a time of seven minutes and 57 seconds in a specially developed electric race car.

The vehicle, dubbed the I.D. R Pikes Peak, was piloted by French driver Romain Dumas at an average speed of nearly 91 mph. He beat the previous mark, set in 2013 by Sebastien Loeb in a Peugeot 208 race car, by 16 seconds.

Prior to VW’s run, the record for an EV had been just under nine minutes. Race car driver Rhys Millen set the mark in 2016 in a prototype eO PP100 EV. Millen won the event in 2015 in an eO PP03—the only other time an EV has finished first overall.
 

The grueling 12.4-mile Rocky Mountains course features 156 turns, climbing 4,720 ft on grades averaging 7.2%.

Powered by a pair of electric motors and large lithium-ion battery, VW’s I.D. R race car generates 680 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. The car can sprint from zero to 60 mph in 2.2 seconds and be fully recharged in less than 20 minutes.

VW says it developed and produced the 2,400-lb Pikes Peak model in eight months. The carmaker is developing several new production EVs, which will be sold under the I.D. sub-brand starting with a compact crossover vehicle in 2020.

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