Formula E: Auto racing’s quiet future

The 20 cars that competed in last Saturday’s inaugural FIA Formula E Championship in Beijing, China, lacked the brutal, thundering wail of their Formula 1 cousins. While these cars have the potential to reach 200 kilometers per hour, they’re still no match to an F1 car that can hit speeds in excess of 300 kph.

During the race, all the crowd could hear were the tire scrubbing and squealing as well as the high-pitched whine of the transmission. They don’t scream like any race car you’ve ever heard.

And yet these cars represent the future of motorsports. Formula E Championship is first motor-racing championship featuring all-electric cars—a great news for those longing for cleaner, greener racing.

Backed by governing body, the FIA, the initial 10-race season begins in Beijing and finishes in London in June 2015.

To the uninitiated, the Formula E cars have the look of an F1 car (besides, many of its drivers and mechanics are veterans of the premier motorsport series). Remove the engine cover and the difference becomes more obvious: Instead of a 1.6-liter, V6 turbo engine, there’s the 700-volt battery box (specially developed by Williams F1 team) that produces 200 kW of power, the equivalent of 270 horsepower, which is still far from the 600 HP produced by an F1 car).

But despite having equipped with the most advanced lithium-ion battery pack, a Formula E car can only last half the race (or about 25-30 minutes of driving). To address this, all the drivers are required to make one mandatory pit stop per one-hour race in order to swap to the team’s second fully-charged car (interestingly, car swapping was also allowed in early years of F1 until the governing body banned the practice in 1958).

Temporary setup

This setup is, of course, temporary until the organizers could devise a way to quickly recharge the cars if not find a way how to swap the battery packs in the same car quickly.

Currently, the battery, which weighs 300 kilograms, is so heavy it has to be safely sealed and bolted directly onto the chassis.

While it’s true that Formula E cars aren’t as fast as their F1 counterparts, the drivers of Formula E will be doing the race on twisty street circuits. The difference might not be as noticeable as what the audience has witnessed in Beijing.

Formula E organizers believe that cities are the natural environment for electric cars and that racing in urban environments will best promote the use, and popularity, of these vehicles (a reason why all races will be held around the iconic landmarks of some of the world’s leading cities).

After Beijing, it would be the turn of Putrajaya (Malaysia), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Miami (United States), Long Beach, California (United States), Monte Carlo (Monaco), Berlin (Germany), and London (United Kingdom) to experience the thrill of this brand-new motorsports spectacle. Organizers are in talks with two North American cities to replace Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on the calendar of its inaugural season.

Off to a great start

Judging from what transpired on the inaugural race in Beijing, Formula E is off to a great start. Brazilian Lucas di Grassi for Audi Sport Abt stole victory after race-leader Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) and Venturi’s Nick Heidfeld touched on the final corner of the final lap in the battle for the lead, sending Heidfeld into a spectacular crash which he walked away from unharmed.

At least Nicolas, the son of four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost, and former BMW Sauber driver Heidfeld proved the safety of electric race cars during such horrific accident (battery pack safety was a major concern).

Franck Montagny for Andretti Racing and Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird completed the podium.