The new era of the WRC, which has as its great protagonist the hybrid propulsion on stage and electric in dedicated parts of the transfers, began last week with the first appointment of the 2022 season, the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Yet, it is already causing discussion.
Let’s face it immediately: the use of hybrid mode during the special stages is not a cause for concern. Used as extra power for 4-5 seconds at the start in addition to that already provided by the 380 horsepower 1.6 turbo heat engine, but also in some sections of the tests, the 100 kW engine gave good results in the 17 tests that made up the Rallye Montecarlo.
Only on a few occasions, especially in the stages of the first 2 days of competition (Thursday and Friday) did the pilots encounter some difficulties in using this extra power of 134 horsepower. Some have not had the opportunity to use it due to some breakdowns (Sébastien Loeb and Thierry Neuville in PS7, or Ott Tanak always in the first stage, for example). Others, like Kalle Rovanpera, needed more evidence to understand how and where to use this potency in order to reap real time benefits.
It was not only a question of where to use the electric motor under test as an assistant to the thermal engine, but also how and when to use the “Regen” mode to recover energy from braking (in which the accelerator must be left completely, without partializing the gas to keep the engine revs high) and where to brake in that way to waste as little time as possible.
After this first doubtful phase, all the drivers – some more, some less – found the right strategy to get additional help with hybrid propulsion. A good sign for the rest of the World Cup. But not all that glitters is gold.
Beyond the team’s reliability problems, there is an aspect that fully involves the introduction of hybrid propulsion and, to be precise, the electrical components. The package, all enclosed in a case made of carbon fiber, has not been designed only to guarantee an extra boost to the drivers during tests, but also to make the cars themselves more sustainable from an environmental point of view thanks to the exclusive use of the electrical part. in certain areas during transfers from one test to another or in the Service Park.
And it is precisely here that in Monte-Carlo, but also at the Rally of Sweden, the use of this exclusively electric part has caused and will cause a sensation. in the Principality, of the 1,511 kilometers of the race between those timed and the transfer, just 3.6 of these were covered completely in electric mode by the Rally1 cars.
The same thing will happen at the Rally of Sweden, based in Umea, scheduled from 24 to 27 February. The second round of WRC 2022 will consist of a total of 1,329 kilometers between those timed and those dedicated to the transfer. In that case the kilometers in full electric mode will be … meters. 710, to be precise.
This means that in Sweden only 0.7% of the complete route will be done in full electric mode. To be precise, it will be mandatory to use the electric mode only in and out of the Service Park, as well as inside it. A solution that raises many question marks on this point. One of the main functions of the electric is precisely to make the Rally1 cars – which have taken the place of the WRC Plus – more sustainable, thus approaching the propulsion modes that are now most popular in the automotive market.
The choices of the organizers of the events and the FIA were made thinking about possible problems of the hybrid in the first releases with the new cars. A legitimate, legitimate concern, which, however, will have to be dispelled shortly. Having chosen more sustainable cars also from an environmental point of view, not only from an economic point of view, is certainly a commendable initiative. However, this intention must not remain only on paper, because 4.3 kilometers in full electric mode out of a total of about 2,200 to be disputed in transfer in the first two rounds of the WRC 2022 show more an ill-concealed insecurity regarding this technology (moreover already in I have been using it for almost a decade in other FIA championships such as WEC and Formula 1), which is a real step forward. At least for now.
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