Volkswagen's new ID R electric race car continues setting records.
After obliterating the record climbing Pikes Peak—not just for electric cars, but for all cars—last June, on Monday, the car set the lap record for electric cars at Germany's famously demanding Nürburgring race track.
At the Nürburgring, the electric ID R didn't enjoy the advantage over gasping gas cars that it did at high altitudes on Pike's Peak.
Still, it smashed the 6-minute, 45.9-second record set by the Chinese Nio EP9 in 2017 by 40 seconds around the 16.12-mile course, with a record time of 6:05:33. That still makes it the second-quickest car ever around the course, following the Volkswagen Group's own Porsche 919 Evo Hybrid, a version of the company's LeMans-winning LMP1 racer.
The ID R is still significantly faster than any production car. The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ (also a VW Group product) set that record at 6:44.97 last year.
VW spent months preparing for the record attempt, ensuring that the batteries would not overheat on the Nürburgring's long straightaways.
As in the Pikes Peak record, the ID R was driven by hot-shoe Romain Dumas.
Although there are few if any direct technology transfers from the ID R, Volkswagen is using it to drum up interest in its new line of ID electric cars, and to prove that electric cars don't have to be slow or dull.
The company plans to start selling the compact ID 3 hatchback next year and be followed by the ID Crozz in the U.S. in late 2020. The company has announced it will spend $50 billion on 70 new electric models, and hopes to sell 22 million of them by 2030.
