Pikes Peak's new kings: Electric trucks rule the summit

Pikes Peak is a summit in Colorado where competitors race to the line of the clouds every year. Once upon a time, on this route – though it was still just gravel – the Peugeot 405 with Ari Vatanen was speeding while avid gamers were cutting time driving the iconic Suzuki Escudo on PlayStation. Now, this route is the domain of electric vehicles.

First, Volkswagen appeared with a designed VW ID.R in the Unlimited class. Last year, Ford brought the SuperVan, which set a record in the Open class. This year, Romain Dumas sat behind the wheel of an electric F-150. It’s better to say that the structure resembles a spoiler with a pickup truck attached to it.

Dumas "overcame a technical issue during the drive," which means he stopped for 26 seconds to "minimize the problem" (essentially turning the car off and back on). After that, the 1,600-kilowatt (2,144-horsepower) F-150 Lightning SuperTruck sped to victory, achieving a time of 8:53.553. In doing so, he defeated 61 competitors.

Why do electric vehicles perform so well in this competition? Pikes Peak ends at an altitude of 1,440 metres (4,724 feet) above sea level, where the air is thinner, which means less oxygen. Less oxygen means less power for combustion engines. For electric vehicles, however, this doesn't matter. Hence, the special spoilers must work well on the entire route, even with lower air density.