The silent sound of electric cars is currently filling the air in the mountains of Austria as the Silvretta electric car rally takes place in the mountains of the Tyrol and Vorarlberg regions.
This year Daimler has entered seven electric powered vehicles including a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell. It’s a prototype of the SLS AMG E-Cell that will go on sale in 2013. The electric version of the gullwing SLS AMG is powered by a 392 kW (525 hp) electric motor with a peak torque of 880 Newton Meters (590 lb.-ft.).
Mercedes-Benz is hoping to win the event this year with this AMG as last year’s inaugural event was won by an Audi R8 eTron.
Regularity and skill, not speed are of essence in the three-day rally through the mountain landscape. Covering a total distance of about 180 miles and a total difference in altitude of 18,000 feet, the electric car rally is far more demanding than last year. Gradients of up to 14 percent must be negotiated with precision and the teams are put through various trials in which hundredths of seconds count in the scoring. Fortunately, in case you’re wondering, there are plenty of charging stations in this area of Austria.
Meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic a much louder and more electrifying event started today in Las Vegas – the Bullrun. Over the next week competitors, mostly in exotic, powerful gasoline-powered cars, will “rally” across America to Miami. There’s even a factory-entered 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 driven by Robby Gordon – can you imagine him driving an electric race car?
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