Several electric models shine on the climb to Pikes Peak

The Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, one of the oldest races in the world, has once again been held as every year, with several electric vehicles making a difference, among them the Rivian R1T and the IONIQ 5N. While the Ford F-150 Lightning Supertruck was the fastest vehicle of the day.

This race is famous for its difficulty, starting at an altitude of 2,862 metres and finishing at 4,300 metres, with an average vertical gradient of 7.2 percent. Until 2011, the course was unpaved in many sections, with dirt or gravel roads, so accidents were quite common. The race is also often affected by rain, snow, fog or other bad weather, which occurs mainly in the final part of the course as the mountain is climbed.

One of the greatest difficulties of this event is the high altitude. Because at higher altitudes there is less oxygen, vehicles with combustion engines are seriously affected. However, this problem does not affect electric vehicles, since they do not require oxygen to operate. This is precisely what explains the extraordinary performance being recorded by the electric models taking part in the race this year.

Among them, the Rivian R1T Ascend Quad Max, the Hyundai IONIQ 5N -in standard and modified versions-, as well as the Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck, stand out. For now, the absolute record on this 20 km race belongs to the Volkswagen ID.R with a time of 7:57.148, set in 2018, but it would not be surprising if this mark is beaten sooner rather than later.

Altitude is not a problem for electric models

Last year, Rivian set the record in the production SUV category, with a time of 11:23.983, beating vehicles such as the Faraday Future and the Tesla P90D. Meanwhile, the fastest electric model was the Model 3 Performance with 11:02.802. This year, the Rivian R1T, driven by Gardner Nichols, set a time of 10:53.883, breaking its own record by half a minute and beating the 2018 Model 3 Performance by about ten seconds.

The joy at Rivian did not last long, however, as the IONIQ 5N from Hyundai set a time of 10:49.267 shortly afterwards in its unmodified version, setting the new year’s record for production electric vehicles. Although the IONIQ 5N came close to breaking the production SUV record, it did not manage to beat the 2018 Bentley Bentayga by three tenths of a second.

In the modified category, the IONIQ 5N TA, driven by Dani Sordo, set a time of 9:30.852, becoming the fastest modified electric SUV to climb the mountain, even beating the modified Model S Plaid.

On the other hand, the Ford F-150 Lightning “SuperTruck” was the fastest electric vehicle with a time of 8:53.553, the only vehicle able to go below 9 minutes, and all this despite a technical problem that cost it almost half a minute. Although it was unable to break the record of the Ford SuperVan from last year, which has a time of 8:47.682, the electric Ford has once again demonstrated the extraordinary performance offered by vehicles with this propulsion system in a race as demanding as this one.

Technical specifications of this car

CrossoverHyundai IONIQ 58 versions · from 44,670 €