Audi to use Advanced Sustainable Fuel at the 2023 Dakar Rally

For its Dakar Rally debut, the Audi RS Q e-tron will use an innovative, sustainable fuel for the first time. The advanced sustainable fuel, called reFuels, is residue-based and will allow the Audi RS Q e-tron to save more than 60 percent carbon dioxide at the 2023 Dakar Rally.

For the ethanol-to-gasoline (ETG) process, Audi engineers use biogenic plant parts as the starting product.

The tank content of the RS Q e-tron consists of 80 percent sustainable components, including ETG and e-methanol.

This fuel is required by the energy converter, whose combustion engine part operates with high compression and thus very efficiently to supply electricity for the electric drive. 

Audi's three desert prototypes, with electric drive and energy converter, will be at the start of the next edition of the Dakar Rally from December 31, 2022 to January 15, 2023.

This development, driven by Audi, complies with the strict chemical specifications of the FIA and ASO fuel regulations.

In its premiere year 2022, the first generation of the RS Q e-tron already completed the daily rally stages in January and March in a highly energy-efficient manner thanks to the electric drive with energy converter.

Oliver Hoffmann, Board Member for Technical Development at Audi, says: “At Audi, we are pursuing a consistent strategy of decarbonization. Our battery vehicles and renewable electricity are the lead technologies. To complement this, renewable fuels offer the possibility of running internal combustion engines in a more climate-friendly way. The Audi RS Q e-tron combines both systems in its innovative drive. As a result, we are now even more sustainable on the road in the toughest motorsport imaginable for electric drives.”

“With this fuel mixture, the Audi RS Q e-tron saves more than 60 percent in carbon dioxide emissions,” adds Dr. Fabian Titus, Application and Thermodynamics Development. 

Audi’s aim is to drive the world’s most demanding races with 100 percent renewable fuel.