The practical application works like this: Off-road, on any kind of surface, torque is key. The application of that torque is critical; the more delicate you can be, the more control you have over the delivery, the better chance you have of not getting stuck. Electric cars provide torque without the need for revs, and they can be managed down to the last microwatt—meaning that they can creep better than any car with an engine. Provided that you have a motor providing sufficient torque output for the weight it’s trying to move, you’ll be able to get the best grip possible. And grip will equal forward motion.
Once you add in the equally delicate control you can program into an electric architecture, you can synthesize individual wheel control and torque splitting to whichever wheel has the most grip. And you don’t have to rely on a mechanical lockup—or a wheel actually spinning—to get to that point. The one thing I noticed about playing with the EQC 4x4² is that it didn’t tear up the trails. You can literally pick your way through an obstacle with minimum fuss, eking out traction with your metaphorical EV fingertips rather than bashing through them with your IC-engined fists.
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And the best bit? You do so silently. You’d be surprised how much feedback being able to hear the terrain actually gives you—you can sense the crunch of rocks beneath your wheels, know when you’re about to spin. And you can also leave an EV hanging about at all sorts of silly angles for as long as you want: There are no fluids to pool in inconvenient places and start to starve components.
To prove the point, the EQC 4x4² bosses the terrain. Any terrain. All of the terrains—gravel, dirt, rocks, even snow. It hasn’t got diff locks or crawler gears, but it doesn’t need them. When cross-axled on lumps and ridges, it simply diverts drive away from the unloaded wheel and into the one that has purchase. Thus, it just sort of ambles over everything. No fuss, no roaring engine—just progress. The approach, breakover, and departure angles are fabulous, the clearance exceptional.
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