The World Rallycross champions, KMS, are already switching technology just one round into 2025
Photography by Red Bull
Words by Luke Barry
World Rallycross champion Johan Kristofferson and KMS team-mate Ole Christian Veiby have switched from internal-combustion to electric power just one round into the 2025 World RX season – but why?
For the second year running, World Rallycross has implemented a ‘Battle of Technologies’ concept which allows EV cars to compete against ICE alternatives in the same RX1 class.
KMS developed the ICE Polo KMS 601 RX and won the 2024 title with Kristoffersson, but struggled for ultimate performance at this year’s opening round in Portugal against the Hansens and CE Dealer Team who are using electric cars.
The FIA’s Equivalence of Technology (EoT) system is subject to change throughout the six-round championship, but KMS feels it has already seen enough to justify a switch to electric cars from this week’s Swedish round in Höljes onwards.
KMS CEO Tommy Kristoffersson told DirtFish: “My job is mainly to make sure that we do as good a result as we can. That’s what I have to do for the drivers, for the crew, for the mechanics, for the engineers – everybody.
Johan Kristoffersson struggled to match the electric cars at the opening round
“We have to look for the best opportunities. We might be wrong, but we believe that it could be better with the EV car now, and we will have the result within one week or less if we made the good choice or the bad choice!”
Every World RX team is permitted to make one technology switch throughout the season, meaning KMS is now locked in with EV for the remainder of 2025. It cannot revert back to its petrol-powered Polo.
Kristoffersson added: “We cannot complain because it’s our own choice. I mean, if we would like to continue with the ICE we could do it. We don’t cry because it’s up to us. Now we make a choice to do these cars and we will see.”
While there’ll still be some ICE cars on the grid in Sweden, they’ll purely be privateer efforts from Juha Rytkönen and Patrick O’Donovan. In theory, that should quieten the debate over EoT.
However KMS’ feeling is that the current weight difference between the two cars (85kg gained for ICE in 2025 and 30kg lost for EV) makes EV the obvious choice – one it would’ve made for the start of the season had the technical regulations been published sooner.
“We would definitely have gone with the EV, it was simply too late for us to change,” Kristoffersson explained.
All three official teams will now compete in electric machines following KMS' decision
“It was unlucky this year that it was late with the rules. That’s also why we were struggling, because it’s impossible to know what you should enter if you don’t know what you’re entering.
“But of course the purpose and the idea was to run the ICE car this year. That’s no secret – I mean, everybody knows that since we build them we like to compete with them.
“But also on the other hand, I mean, we also like to be competitive, so when we see the final rules… we don’t know yet because we haven’t tried them yet, so maybe we are wrong. We don’t know. But we believe that it might be better for us [to switch to EV].”
Veiby is currently KMS’ leading contender in the championship having finished third in Portugal, with seven-time champion Kristoffersson finishing the final an uncharacteristic fifth.
The team tested its Polo RX1e on Monday, but it has not had any development since it was used in the first half of the 2023 World RX championship.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Johan Kristoffersson, Tommy Kristoffersson, World RX, World RX 2025
Publish Date July 2, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/07/rQTWLbAA-SI202306160294-780x520.jpg July 2, 2025
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