Electric vehicles race combustion cars in ‘battle of technologies’

At the Montalegre circuit in Portugal, electric vehicles and combustion engine cars are racing against each other in an FIA-championship event for the first time. The FIA, or International Automobile Federation, is the governing body behind some of the biggest motorsport championships, including Formula One. Billed as the “Battle of Technologies”, the FIA World Rallycross Championship sees both technologies compete on equal terms, with each vehicle having advantages and disadvantage that must be balanced in order to win races.

Rallycross races take place on mixed-surface racetracks, and while the electric cars have instant torque, and about 100 more horsepower, giving them an advantage on long straights, the internal combustion engine (ICE) cars – which run on sustainable fuel that is made of “70% of sustainable components”, the fuel manufacturers say – are around 160 kilograms lighter, giving them better handling around corners.

“The battle of technologies just adds a little bit more excitement to what we already call the most exciting world championship that we have within the FIA,” says Arne Dirks, managing director of FIA World Rallycross.

After going fully electric in 2022, the sport has been struggling to impress its long-term base of combustion fanatics, and following a fire in 2023 that destroyed two electric cars, the format needed a rethink. “The fire certainly didn’t help our sport,” says Dirks, “of course, it influenced the decision to go that way”.

So, despite Dirks telling New Scientist in 2022 that the electric transition meant “the old sport doesn’t exist anymore”, combustion engines are back. This time, however, the teams can choose their technology. Currently, about half the paddock has retained electric vehicles. “[The]combustion engine is technology of the past,” says Susann Hansen, team manager at Hansen Motorsport, who elected to stick with electric cars this season. “For us, it was not only a business decision to go into electric. It was also a personal belief that we need to do something. That I can look my children and my grandchildren in the eye to say we have done something,” she says.

For Dirks and others in the paddock, this is only the start of what is possible. “The battle of technologies is at the moment EV cars against ICE’s, but I think as a championship, we should be open also to new technologies,” he says.