Can You Drift Electric Vehicles?
The art of drifting requires the finesse to modulate steering input while sending as much power as possible to the rear wheels to try and cause them to lose grip. The idea is to cause them to break traction to create a controlled slide.
It’s a thing of beauty, watching a car teeter on the brink of losing control as it spews an abundance of tyre smoke into the air. Many liken the poise and precision of drifting to that of the grace exhibited by a ballerina or figure skater.
Drift cars may differ in terms of looks but under the skin, they are petrol powered, use a manual transmission and are rear wheel drive. These are key ingredients to making a well-executed slide. The result is a sinful amount of burnt fuel, plumes of smoke from the tyres and exhaust pipes as well as an exorbitant amount of screeching tyre noises that could wake the dead.
EVs are considered the antithesis of a drift car because they are ghostly quiet when in motion, emit zero harmful gases and rely on a plethora of safety systems to keep its movements in check. Despite being more powerful than equivalent ICE vehicles, they are usually front wheel drive and are packed with safety systems that make it close to impossible to drift.
But that hasn’t stopped certain manufacturers from working around these compromises to create some wildly entertaining EV cars that are able to drift far better than ICE ones. Here are a few of them worth mentioning:
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
Meant to bring a smile to your face due to its charm and charisma, the Ioniq 5 N is a hatchback with a retro modern look. It has a dual motor setup that offers 641hp and the ability to sprint from 0-100km/h in just 3.2 seconds.
Despite being filled with sophisticated tech that includes an electronic style limited slip differential, the Ioniq 5 N comes with the N Drift optimiser setting. It helps ensure the car maintains the appropriate drift angle by balancing the various responses that the controls receive from the driver.
Its Torque Kick Drift function simulates an actual clutch kick of a manual car, which is a technique used to initiate a drift. It’s one of several methods used by professional drifters to allow a car to break traction.
Ford Mustang Mach E
A legendary brand of mass market cars, the Ford Motor Company has dipped its toes into the small SUV market with the Mustang Mach E. Though it has extraordinarily little in common with the actual Mustang road cars, the Mach E is a sleek looking EV with amazing performance credentials.
It’s available with a dual emotor setup, and that allows the car to accelerate from 0-100km/h in just under 3.5 seconds. Ford has given it a MagneRide damping system for better handling and Brembo brakes for better stopping power.
Unlike the Hyundai, it doesn’t have a dedicated “hoonery” setting that allows it to drift. But it can be manhandled to achieve some impressive sideways action. This is down to electric motor setup and the ample amount of power that’s sent to the wheels.
The Mustang Mach-E 1400 prototype on the other hand, is a lesson in savagery. Despite sporting a similar body style to the regular family-sized car, underneath the skin is a 1,400hp electric motor setup that allows it to do some epic drifting around a racetrack. It was built to showcase that electric vehicles can offer bucket loads of fun to the right driver.
It’s also meant to make us realize that EVs can be great fun if we keep an open mind and purchase them from manufacturers who understand what we want and deliver vehicle characteristics that we desire as car enthusiasts.
