Volkswagen has made a big deal about its push into electric vehicles, but we didn’t realize that push would include a gnarly all-wheel-drive race car aimed squarely at a Pikes Peak record.

Until today, that is. VW has just announced its intention to return to Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb after a 30-year absence -- its last attempt was with a twin-engine Golf in 1987 -- with a battery-powered prototype. We know next to nothing about the car, but in the sole teaser photo released so far, it looks a bit like a Porsche 906 sporting hyper-aggressive aero.

This is a significant move for VW; recall that the automaker’s impressive WRC team was axed in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. Consider this part of the long road toward rebuilding a motorsports presence.

VW Motorsport’s goal? Beating Rhys Millen’s record-setting 8 minute, 57.118-second EV time from 2016. The overall record for the course, which sees a 4,700-foot climb over its 12.4-mile run, is 8 minutes, 13.878 seconds, set by Sebastien Loeb in a Peugeot 280 T16 back in 2013. So that’s a bit further off.

“The race on Pikes Peak is a new beginning for us. We are developing an all-electric race vehicle for the first time,” Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets said in a release. He also said that the team was “literally electrified” at the prospect of tackling the hill climb, which, uh, sounds dangerous. Be careful in the garage, guys!

Similar to what automakers have been saying about Formula E, VW claims that the stresses of competition on Pikes Peak will help push EV technology forward, especially when it comes to batteries and energy management. Whether that’s actually the case remains to be seen, but if it gets more weird science experiments like these in competition, we’re for it.

The 2018 Hill Climb is set for June 24. We’re sure to learn more about VW’s racing prototype between now and then.

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