Pikes Peak: Welcome to the battleground of EV motorsport

EVs have been part of the landscape at Pikes Peak for over 40 years, but how has a once-fringe category become the ‘must have’ powertrain to win the world’s most fearsome and prestigious hillclimb event? EV Powered finds out…

Since the first outright EV victory at Pikes Peak in 2015, EV power has been at the forefront of the world’s most famous hillclimb event. After all, it’s the all-electric Volkswagen ID.R, which set a still-unbeaten event record of seven minutes, 57.148 seconds in the hands of Romain Dumas.

Following VW’s withdrawal from Pikes Peak after its 2018 run, there was an EV-shaped gap in Pikes Peak’s Unlimited Class – the category where manufacturers throw everything they have at creating a car that can manage the 12.42-mile, 156 corner-strong run to the summit.

In 2023, Ford, then fully-committed to its 100% electrification by 2030 strategy entered its SuperVan 4.2, a tri-motor, twin-chassis AWD Transit producing 2000bhp. Driven by Dumas, the very non-regular Transit finished second, just seven seconds adrift of the eventual winner. A year later, Ford returned with its slightly-less powerful-yet-equally-unhinged 1,600bhp F-150 Lightning Supertruck, which propelled Dumas to his fifth coronation as Pikes Peak’s ‘King of The Mountain’.

As the clock ticks down to the 103rd running of the event on Sunday, June 22, the Blue Oval has taken the wraps off its Ford Super Mustang Mach-E, the 1,400bhp machine Dumas hopes will take him to a sixth Pikes Peak victory.

Yet for all of the headline-stealing EV heroics over the last decade, the relationship between electric cars and America’s second-oldest motor race can be traced back to 1981.

Early years

The first EV participated at Pikes Peak when the United States was reeling from the oil crisis of the 1970s. On the back of soaring fuel prices, the decade saw the US Department of Energy begin exploring alternative fuel sources including electricity.

While cars such as Sebring-Vanguard’s CitiCar and the Chevrolet-developed Electrovette failed to curry favour with the wider public, the government’s experimentation was enough to convince Sears – as in Sears of department store and online retailer fame – to have a crack at Pikes Peak in 1981 as way of promoting the 12V car battery made by the brand’s DieHard battery supplier.

Using a modified Fiat 128 Coupé, the car – the Sears XDH-1 – was powered by 20 of DieHard’s deep-cycle, lead acid marine batteries positioned in the boot and beneath the rear seats. The XDH-1’s electrical architecture was built around a front wheel-drive drivetrain, and a WW2 plane motor producing around 29bhp. Range was reportedly somewhere between 60 and 90 miles, and V-MAX was approximately 70mph.

Driven by Joe Ball, the Sears XDH-1 reached the Pikes Pikes summit in 32 minutes. For context, that year’s winning car achieved the run in just 12. Nonetheless, the groundbreaking Sears XDH-1 proved that the world’s toughest hillclimb could be tackled in an EV… even if it did just start out as a marketing gimmick.

As the years rolled by, entrants began realising the benefits of electric power at Pikes Peak. Unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE), electric motors do not require complex liquid cooling systems. More crucially for Pikes Peak – an event that undergoes a 4,720-foot elevation change and finishes 14,115 feet above sea-level – electric motors are not sensitive to changes in air density and will perform consistently and predictably even in thin air. Conversely, an ICE is estimated to lose up to 40% of its horsepower at the top of the mountain.

In 1994, the event organisers introduced an electric category. Initial honors were taken by a modified 1991 Honda Civic driven by Katy Endicott. Powered by 12V sealed lead acid batteries, the Civic was powered by a brushless 65kW DC motor and introduced regenerative braking to Pikes Peak.

Pikes Peak introduces an EV-only category

As the 1990s rolled on, the event saw Larry Ragland’s Chevrolet S-10 electric spearhead Pikes Peak’s truck trend in 1997. Fast-forward two years, and the Honda EV Plus R would do away with lead acid batteries for the first time, and usher in Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMh) batteries to power its 49kW motor – 24 of them in fact.

However, the turn of the millennium would be the era of Lithium-ion at Pikes Peak. The Compact Power ER1 was the first to try – and fail – with Lithium-ion batteries in 2000, but would put things right when it completed the run in 15m18.60s the following year.

By 2013, EVs had broken Pikes Peak’s sub-10 minute barrier. The first to do it was six-time event winner Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima. The Japanese ace’s run of 9m46.530s was fuelled by the quad-motor, 1,455bhp, Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One. Yes, that’s the very same Rimac responsible for the Nevera hypercar.

Rhys Millen’s run to overall first place in 2015 underlined that electricity was a power source to be reckoned with at Pikes Peak. Yet despite taking top spot, the Pikes Peak record remained in the hands of Sébastien Loeb. Armed with Peugeot’s fearsome, 875bhp, 875kg 208 T16, the nine-time World Rally Champion threw down the gauntlet two years prior with a blistering 8m:13.878 seconds.

In 2018, Loeb’s compatriot Dumas and VW wouldn’t just beat the standing record, they would obliterate it with a 7m:57.148s blast to the top of “America’s mountain”. From that moment onwards, EVs were no longer one way of mastering Pikes Peak. They were now THE way of racing to the clouds as quickly as possible.

Romain Dumas and the Volkswagen ID.R re-write the rules of engagement

It’s not just the Unlimited class where EVs are at an advantage at Pikes Peak. Last year, the Time Attack category saw a slightly-modified Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA driven by WRC ace Dani Sordo set a new record of 9m:30.852s. In doing so, the Spaniard smashed the previous 9m:52.901s record set by Randy Pobst in an also-modified Tesla Model S Plaid in 2023.

In the ‘Exhibition’ category, production vehicles are eligible for competition. The class was opened following the 2017 entry of the tri-motor Faraday Future 91, a production vehicle set to hit the market in… well, nobody knows. Nonetheless, with its torque vectoring system, four-wheel steering, and 130kWh battery pack, it opened up competition for manufacturers seeking bragging rights about whose road car was fastest at Pikes Peak.

EVs electrify other categories

Last year in particular saw a tight battle between a 1,125bhp Rivian R1T truck and an unmodified Ioniq 5 N. With a 10m:53.883s run, Rivian driver and engineer Gardner Nicols would set 2024’s fastest time in the production SUV class. That was until he was pipped at the last minute by a stock Ioniq 5 N, which managed the blast in 10m:49.267 with Ron Zaras at the wheel.

Perhaps more impressively, the EV world’s favourite hyperhatch was around 0.3s short of the overall record set in 2018 by a Bentley Bentayga.

Notwithstanding an act of God, then, it’s almost certain that Dumas will breeze to a sixth Pikes Peak win with the Ford Super Mustang Mach-E. Yet don’t forget to keep an eye on the TA and Exhibition classes – there’s plenty at stake for EV makers there, too. Oh, one more thing… If anyone you know starts going on about EVs being “soulless milkfloats” and “white goods”, then invite them over for a Pikes Peak watchalong party this coming Sunday.