The Volkswagen I.D. R also known as Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak, is a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

fully

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

designed as part of Volkswagen's I.D. Project, and included within Volkswagen's R series of cars designed specifically for competing in

motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

events. It is the first electric racing car designed by Volkswagen.

History

Following the

Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

in 2015, the company pulled out of motorsport events such as the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(which they had won every year since 2013), the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

(3 straight wins since 2009) and the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

(13 wins with its

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

and

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

brands in the 15 years prior to 2014). The Volkswagen I.D. R made its competition début 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 ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

on 24 June 2018. It was driven by

Romain Dumas Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver and a Porsche factory driver. He first started out in karting and single-seater before becoming an expert driver in endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype. He has won the greatest r ...

, and the team set a target of beating the existing electric car record of 8:57.118 minutes, set in 2016 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 ...

with the Drive eO PP100. The I.D. R became the first car to complete the hill climb in under eight minutes (''7:57.148''), breaking the outright record set by

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

and the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. The average speed during the run was , and through the speed trap. In 2018 the

Dewar Trophy The Dewar Trophy was a cup donated in the early years of the twentieth century by Sir Thomas R. Dewar, M.P. a member of parliament of the United Kingdom (UK), to be awarded each year by the Royal Automobile Club (R. A .C.) of the United Kingdom "t ...

was awarded to Integral Powertrain (the provider of the motors used by Volkswagen) for their electric motors and drivers. Previous winners include

Keith Duckworth David Keith Duckworth (10 August 1933 – 18 December 2005) was an English mechanical engineer. He is most famous for designing the Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine, an engine that revolutionised the sport of Formula One. Early life a ...

for the

Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had fo ...

engine and

Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (previously known as Ilmor Engineering and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines) is a Formula One engine manufacturer, owned by Mercedes-Benz. The company supplied Sauber during the season, McLaren ...

for their

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

powertrain. On 3 June 2019 the ID.R used 24.7 kWh to break the electric vehicle lap record on the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

with a time of 6:05.336, cornering at up to 3.49 ''g''. The record time was previously held by the NIO EP9 driven by

Peter Dumbreck Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. Again driven by Dumas, the ID. R reached speeds of , for an average of . In 2019, the I.D. R set a new record for the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb clocking in at 39.90, also by Dumas. On 2 September 2019, Dumas set a benchmark with the Volkswagen ID.R on the Shan Big Gate Road on

Tianmen Mountain Tianmen Mountain () is a mountain located within Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie, in the northwestern part of Hunan Province, China. Mountain A cablecar was constructed in 2005 by the French company Poma from nearby Zhangjiajie rail ...

of 7:38.585. In February 2020, Volkswagen confirmed that a second version of the I.D. R would be built. Named the I.D. R Evo, this version of the car is expected to continue to make record attempts at various tracks and courses around the world, potentially revisiting some benchmarks set by the original I.D. R car. Volkswagen has since announced it would abandon motorsports for their flagship brand, though they continue to support motorsports for their premium brands.

Track times set

Technical specifications

The Volkswagen I.D. R features two electric motors, located at each axle, allowing for a combined and of torque. The I.D. R weighs under and has a 0 to time of 2.25 seconds. It has a single 45-kWh battery. The Chassis of the car was co-developed by

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid *Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Lazi ...

, French sports prototype and hillclimb specialist. VW ID

In media

Television

The I.D. R appeared in the fifth episode of season 28 of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', with host Chris Harris pitting it against a

McLaren 720S The McLaren 720S is a Supercar designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It is the second all-new car in the McLaren ''Super Series'', replacing the 650S beginning in May 2017. The 720S was launched at the ...

Video games

The I.D. R made its video game debut as paid downloadable content for ''

V-Rally 4 ''V-Rally 4'' is a racing video game developed by Kylotonn and published by Bigben Interactive for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch in 2018. The developer had previously worked on the official 2017 WRC game. Gam ...

''. ''

RaceRoom Racing Experience ''RaceRoom Racing Experience'' is a free-to-play racing simulator for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sector3 Studios, (formerly known as SimBin Studios) and published by RaceRoom Entertainment AG. Their aim is to provide an authentic racing expe ...

'' partnered with Volkswagen to feature the I.D. R in a

time attack Time attack is a type of motorsport in which the racers compete for the best lap time. Each vehicle is timed through numerous circuits of the track. The racers make a preliminary circuit, then run the timed laps, and then finish with a cool-dow ...

challenge on the

Nürburgring Nordschleife The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

; the competition ran from 24 April to 24 October 2019. It would later be featured in the title's 21 December 2020 content update. ''

Forza Horizon 4 ''Forza Horizon 4'' is a 2018 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on 2 October 2018 for Windows and Xbox One after being announced at Xbox's E3 2018 conference. An enhanced version ...

'' saw the I.D. R join its vehicle roster as part of the Series 14 update.Dooley, Kevin (26 September 2019)
"Forza Horizon 4 update adds McLaren 600 LT & McLaren 720S"
''Team VVV''. Retrieved 12 November 2020. ''

Real Racing 3 ''Real Racing 3'' is a 2013 racing game developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10 devices. It was released on iOS and Android on February 28, 2013, under the freemium bu ...

'' saw I.D. R join the roster as part of the 9.2 update. The Volkswagen I.D. R was added in the Electric Season Update in '' Asphalt 9: Legends.'' On 29th September 2022 the Volkswagen I.D. R was added to ''Gran Turismo 7'' with the update to 1.23.

References

{{Volkswagen Passenger Cars I.D._R Experimental vehicles Norma Auto Concept Green racing Electric sports cars