Drive eO is an engineering company which operates from

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and specializes in development of electric and hybrid electric prototype vehicles for demanding applications. It was founded in 2011 to create the first ever hybrid electric rally car OSCar eO for the

2012 Dakar Rally The 2012 Dakar Rally was the 34th running of the event. It was held in South America for the fourth successive time. Summary By 17 March 2011, Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced that the start would be in Mar del Plata, ...

. Driven by and , it successfully completed the rally. The company went on to develop a number of electric racing cars for participation at the

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing from the sta ...

. In 2015, the one-megawatt eO PP03 race car driven by

Rhys Millen Rhys Millen (born 6 September 1972) is a New Zealand-born racing driver. Nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rodney and older brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rall ...

set a new EV record and became the first ever all-electric vehicle to win the event overall.

OSCar eO

The car is based on the platform of all wheel driv
OSCar O3

rally raid Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon ra ...

car manufactured b
OSC
It features a

series hybrid Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power. Hybrids come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but sw ...

drivetrain. Drive eO gives the following vehicle specification: OSCar eO has participated at three international

eO PP01

The car features an all wheel drive electric drivetrain with one inboard mounted direct drive motor per wheel. It is based on a tubular spaceframe chassis with bodywork derived from Aquila CR1 racing car. Drive eO gives the following vehicle specification: The car was driven at the 2013

by Latvian and Baltic touring car champio
Jānis Horeliks
The adverse weather conditions had made the track surface slippery and he went off-road after losing grip in a left hand corner at the Halfway Picnic Grounds. A documentary called
Uzvaras cena
has been produced about the project and was first aired in September 2013 on LTV7 during motoring programme "Tavs auto".

eO PP02

Drive eO returned to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2014 with a race car based on a Tesla Roadster chassis. This was the first time that Tesla brand was represented at a major international motorsport event. The original chassis was retained but the entire drive train was replaced by Drive eO to validate the new components ahead of scaling them up for successive electric supercar projects. The car was again piloted by Janis Horeliks and he completed the course in 12 minutes and 57.536 seconds to rank fifth in the Electric Modified division. Drive eO gives the following vehicle specification:

eO PP03

As the next step, Drive eO developed an entirely new vehicle eO PP03 for the 93rd running of

on June 28, 2015. The vehicle featured a one-megawatt electric drive train and all-wheel drive transmission. The team signed

to drive the car and was aiming for overall victory. On the race day

completed the course in 9 minutes and 7.222 seconds, setting a new EV record and becoming the overall winner.

eO PP100

In 2016, the car had Peak power and peak torque 2520 Nm, with a weight of 1200 kg. Millen set a record of 8:57.118.

References

External links

*{{Official website
Dakar Rally websitePikes Peak International Hill Climb website
Companies established in 2011 Latvian brands Electric vehicle manufacturers of Latvia Hybrid vehicles