Volkswagen Motorsport’s ID R race car has cemented its place in racing history by shattering the lap record for electric vehicles at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, finishing in 6.05.336 minutes.
Volkswagen Motorsport faced a formidable engineering test in achieving this record. The course’s tight corners and steep inclines require extreme acceleration and deceleration, causing thermal fluctuations that could have strained the ID R’s battery and created a temperature differential, potentially leading to shut down. Furthermore, the very long full-throttle passages place huge demands on the vehicle’s battery and temperature management systems.
To overcome these obstacles, Volkswagen Motorsport engineers leveraged Ansys Fluids to evaluate different battery cooling devices, ensuring that the designs did not negatively affect the vehicle’s aerodynamic design.
Engineers also used Ansys technology to create a digital twin to test the car on track. Thanks to the virtual engineering tool, the expensive and time-consuming trial-and-error test process typically adopted during development was not necessary.
Sven Smeets, director of Volkswagen Motorsport, said, “Ansys was instrumental in improving the temperature management of the ID R’s battery, ensuring adequate heat removal and uniformity of temperature and without impacting the car’s aerodynamic performance.”
Shane Emswiler, vice president and general manager of Ansys, added, “Leveraging Ansys simulation, Volkswagen Motorsport attained the perfect balance between controlling battery temperature while maximizing the aerodynamic performance of the ID R within extremely challenging driving conditions.”