3 ms·

>Because of the race rules and regs though, the electric is only allowed to kick in past 120km/h. Why make that rule?

• daeken 13y ago
  Presumably because of the torque an electric motor can make off the starting line, versus an ICE.
• parimm 13y ago
  IMO that rule was made to prevent the cars from going through slow corners too fast, The speed restriction only applies to cars that have the motors connected to the front wheels. The Toyota cars have their hybrid motors attached to the rear and they can use their hybrid system from 0 kmph.
• wh0car3s 13y ago
  The R18 e-tron sends the extra power to the front wheels (effectively making it a four wheel drive). I guess the rule was put in place to negate any advantage the R18 e-tron will have when cornering. The other LMP hybrid is the Toyota TS030, their system applies the extra power at the rear only, and therefore Toyota can use the electric power at any speed (race reports of the 2012 24 hr of Le Mans said that the Toyota TS030 was eerily silent going down the pit road as it was running on pure electric power on pit stops).
  • ericcumbee 13y ago
    Of course the R18 Etron is a Flywheel based system, which has little relevance to road cars. it's Also caped at 500Kj of energy that can be stored and released per braking.