World's First Electric Rally Car Begins Testing

Are you shopping for a sensible, environmentally friendly 4-door hatchback for around £46,000? Would you also like to silently send it sideways down a rally stage? Well I have good news. Testing has begun on the Corsa-e Rally, soon to be available from Opel (kudos on resisting the urge to call it the RallE).

The rally version retains the 134 horsepower front-wheel-drive electric motor and 50kWh battery of the £26,490 Corsa-e that it is based on. Upgrades include a rally-spec suspension, a taller and wider body, rally wheels and of course some sweet decals.

This is the first time a manufacturer has offered an electric rally car. Opel had previously announced that it will start the world's first electric one-make rally in 2020 called the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup. It will be replacing the ADAC Opel Rally Cup which uses the Opel Adam R2 powered by a 1.6-liter engine.

According to Autocar, Opel has begun testing the vehicle to gather real-world data. "There is no experience of an electric rally car that we could turn to, so initially we had to rely on calculations and simulations," said Opel Motorsport Director, Jörg Schrott.

Registration for the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup starts tomorrow.