Acciona To Bring All-Electric Car To the Dakar Rally

Acciona, a Spanish firm, has designed and built the first electrically powered car based entirely on renewable sources. The vehicle was officially presented the company's head office in Madrid. Developing Acciona 100% EcoPowered has taken more than two years of R&D, not to forget the collaboration of a team of over 20 people.

But the clincher here is that Acciona is entering the Dakar rally with this car. This is history in the making, as it will be the first time in its 37-year history that Dakar has registered a 100% electric car. For those who don't know what this rally is all about, well, to summarise, it is the single most grueling rally in the world. It is the toughest test for both man and machine. To complete this rally, the Acciona 100% EcoPowered will have to cover a distance of over 9000 km.

The brief of to the team working on the car was simple; the car has to compete in this rally and make it to the end. This meant that the car was to reach an optimal balance between electric propulsion technology, powered entirely by batteries, and the unique characteristics of a racing car prepared for an extreme adventure.

Throughout the rally stage, the Acciona 100% EcoPowered will not emit a single CO2 particle and as Acciona puts it in the video 'It will leave its footprint in the Dakar, but not in nature'. The race takes place between the 4th and 17th of January in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.