FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Whacky electric racers emerge

You know EVs are all the rage when even the race cars are electric. That was the case at today’s Frankfurt motor show opening, where two mass-market brands announced battery-powered racing programs – one of global significance.

Opel focused much of its Frankfurt effort on its Corsa-e light car. The new EV is already on sale in Europe, where it’s aimed at the affordable end of the market (but will not come to Australia despite Opel and Holden’s relationship firming).

But key to the presence for the people’s EV was Opel’s confirmation of a German-based one-make series for the car. Small fish to fry but important for the company’s commitment to EVs.

Much more significant globally was the unveiling of a Veloster-based rear-drive EV racer from Hyundai.

The Hyundai Veloster N ETCR is designed and built at Hyundai Motorsport’s Alzenau headquarters near Frankfurt and is eligible to compete in the new ETCR series that starts in 2020.

An electric-only series that will run alongside the WTCR in Europe, ETCR is expected to attract at least three marques in its first season and will feature a ‘party mode’ style qualifying power boost and ‘push-to-pass’ power-ups in the racers themselves.

It is the brainchild of the man behind TCR globally, Marcello Lotti.

And Hyundai will have an even larger presence than simply its mid-motored Veloster racer. In fact, the whole series will be ‘powered’ by Hyundai.

In a move that will undoubtedly call out Formula E’s dependence on generators, the ETCR racers will be recharged using Hyundai’s own hydrogen-fuelled fuel-cell gensets.

The fuel-cell development is designed to counter criticism aimed at the open-wheel racing series dependence on combustion-powered generators -- all be them bio-diesel powered. It also brings some added focus to Hyundai’s fuel-cell expertise.