Volkswagen's 'electric car' just lapped the Nurbugring in 6 minutes

Volkswagen has proven yet again that electric vehicles don't have to be slow and boring.

After setting records at the Pikes Peak hill climb and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Volkswagen's ID. R racer has just set a new record at the Nurburgring for electric vehicles. The I.D. R managed to set a 6:05.336 lap with driver Romain Dumas behind the wheel, beating the previous electric record set by the NIO EP9 in 2017 by 40.56 seconds.

“I want to thank the team at Volkswagen Motorsport, who have once again done a fantastic job. The ID.R was perfectly prepared for the Nordschleife and it was so much fun to experience the blistering acceleration and rapid cornering speeds,” said Dumas, a four-time winner at the 24-hour Nurburgring race.

In order to make the I.D. R competitive at the Nurburgring, Volkswagen had to modify the vehicle from its previous form. The twin electric motor and battery setup used during its Pike Peak run was retained and continued to produce 680 PS, but the exterior was modified in order to maximize downforce and acceleration. In order to reach top speed faster, Volkswagen also changed the I.D. R's energy management system. Volkswagen says that Dumas managed an average speed of 206.96 km/h around the 20.8km Nordschleife.

To put the I.D.R's time to perspective, the current fastest production car around the Nordschleife is the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ with a 6:44.97 lap. The quickest overall, however, remains with the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo racer with a 5:19.55 lap. That said, the all-electric I.D. R did beat Stefan Bellof's long-standing lap record of 6:11.13 set with a Porsche 956 racer in 1983.

With Volkswagen already beating Bellof's record with the electric I.D. R, it makes us wonder what the German automaker can do with a more powerful electric vehicle in the future.