Ford has had a notable presence in the World Rally Championship (WRC) over the years, dominating during some periods as well. Although the company has not won many championships, it has the second most number of events wins in the WRC after Citroen. Since the 21^st century began, Ford has won two championships with the Ford Focus and Fiesta as well as many individual rounds.

M-Sport Ford, run by former rally driver Malcolm Wilson, has represented Ford in the WRC most years and in the opening round for the 2022 championship, the brand new Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car. It has been developed by M-Sport Ford at its UK base for the new era of rallying where hybrid powertrains are being introduced.

M‑Sport Ford is entering 3 cars for this year’s championship which will be the 25th year of the hugely successful partnership between Ford and M-Sport. “One of the most captivating aspects of WRC down the years has been the clear link between the ultra-high performance rally cars and their road-going equivalents,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance. “That’s why it’s so important that this new era of WRC reflects our industry’s shift to electrification. At Ford, we’re fully committed to an electrified future, and campaigning the M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car in the toughest conditions is going to help us develop even more exciting electrified powertrains for our customers.”

Powered using similar principles to the Puma EcoBoost Hybrid road car on which it is based, the new Puma Hybrid Rally1 is Ford’s first electrified competition car. It has a next-generation hybrid powertrain that captures energy during braking and coasting, and stores it in a 3.9 kWh battery pack. The energy is then used to supplement the performance of the turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine with repeated boosts of up to 3 seconds from a 100 kW electric motor.

The car can also use its electrified powertrain to travel through towns, cities, service parks and chosen sections between stages using pure-electric power. So it’s a rather different image from the noisier rallycars of the past. The battery pack can be recharged using an external power source at the dedicated service points between stages, with a recharge taking approximately 25 minutes.

Another new requirement by the FIA (for Rally1 competitors) is that fossil-free fuel must be used from this year’s season. This is in line with the FIA’s goal of achieving sustainability and the fuel must have a blend of synthetic and bio-degradable elements.

While the petrol engine produces 380 ps/420 Nm, maximum output from the hybrid system is up to 500 ps with 500 Nm of torque, all going through a 5ive-speed sequential manual transmission and 50/50 torque split 4-wheel drive. With a minimum body weight of 1,260 kgs, the car’s 0 to 100 km/h time is said to be 3.2 seconds.

Hybrid power for new era of World Rally Championship starts this year

When the subject of electric vehicles comes up, a common topic is range. This is important to buyers since, unlike cars which run on petrol or diesel, you cannot just drive into a station and refuel. With a fully electric vehicle or battery electric vehicle (BEV), you need a charging station to ‘refuel’ with electricity. So how far the car can go on a fully charged battery pack matters and this range is increasing as battery technology advances.

Depending on the country and region, the network of charging stations varies in coverage. In Europe, Japan and North America, it is quite extensive so BEV owners can drive long distances and be assured that they will get ‘fuel’ along the way.

In Malaysia, it is still small and it is only now that Shell, collaborating with Porsche Asia-Pacific, is setting up charging points at stations along the North-South Expressway. This will enable BEV owners to travel from Singapore all the way to the north and eventually, in Thailand as well.

For Americans, driving long distances on electric power is getting common and the nationwide Electrify America CCS DC fast charging network is extensive enough. This encouraged Wayne Gerdes, a multi-Guinness World Records title-holder for efficiency and range in other vehicles, to set a new record for the shortest charging time to cross the continental USA in a BEV, specifically a Porsche Taycan. The record that existed was 7 hours, 10 minutes, and 1 second.

Gerdes completed the crossing from Los Angeles in California to New York City covering 4,563.5 kms in the red Taycan with a cumulative charge time of just 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 48 seconds. “Comparing charging performance from of variety of EVs I have driven to date, the Taycan sets the bar,” said Gerdes. “The first time I charged on a 350KW charger, 6% to 82% was done in just 22 minutes.”

To qualify for the Guinness World Records title, Gerdes was required to meet a daunting set of requirements, including meticulously noting every stop – with independent witnesses for each charge. Every kilometre covered was filmed, GPS tracked and accounted for before being certified by a panel of adjudicators ahead of the record being accepted. The car selected was a standard 2021 Taycan equipped with the Performance Battery Plus as well as nice-to-have luxury items for the coast-to-coast drive, such as the Premium Package, Adaptive Cruise Control and Porsche Electric Sport Sound.

All-electric Porsche Taycan sets a drift world record (w/VIDEO)