Formula E is set to introduce its next gen car in the new season, with Envision Racing team boss Sylvain Filippi believing it can help “disguise” the limits of electric technology.
The all-electric racing series Formula E will have a completely new look for next season as the teams prepare to introduce the next gen – Gen 3 cars into competition.
They will be lighter, smaller and considerably more powerful than their outgoing cousins – which have been in service since the 2018/19 season.
As electric technology has developed, it has opened up some intriguing prospects for the next gen Formula E car – one of which is the ability to “disguise” the limits of such tech, in the words of one team boss.
- TRENDING: “No reason” why Formula E can’t open battery development – Sylvain Filippi
Formula E next gen car can “disguise” electric technology
Speaking exclusively to HITC before the team flew out to New York for the first of three double-headers to end the season, Envision Racing team boss Sylvain Filippi believes the next gen Formula E car will be a key tool to improving the reputation of electric vehicles.
“Gen 3 is all about performance. Gen 1 was all about proof of concept – we needed to be able to say we could go electric racing,” he tells HITC at the team’s Silverstone base.
“It provided a starting point that was not ideal, with two cars per driver.” – (Gen 1 cars featured mid-race car swaps for drivers as the batteries could not last a full race distance.)
“Gen 2 was to really show the range to say we’ve doubled the amount of energy in the battery, that the power and efficiency are going up.
“Gen 3 is really going to take it to the next level on performance, another 100kws of power – a car that is 60kg lighter and in motorsport terms is huge, it is gigantic.”
“The next step [for the Gen 3 Formula E car] is to really show you can almost disguise the limit of what you can do with electric technology in the direction that you can take it.
“We said now was the time to ensure the car was light, powerful, small, nimble – all the things we think an electric car cannot be and then demonstrate that with a very high level of performance.
More power brings new challenges
The next gen Formula E car will feature a power output boost from 250kw to 350kw – and the cars won’t feature rear brakes at all such is the re-gen capability.
The second big story for Gen 3 is the re-gen, going from 250kw to 600kw on the front and rear axle is absolutely huge – about six times as much as you get on a road car,” explains Filippi.
- TRENDING: Inside Formula E’s sustainability push with Envision Racing and its 38 people
“It means the deacceleration through the electric is all the deacceleration you need – you almost don’t need brakes which is a very exciting innovation for Formula cars of the future.
“Optimising and trying to maximise the re-gen for braking is challenging so to make it controllable for the drivers.
“It has very different energy profiles, very different re-gen profiles, and so basically we have to rewrite all the software on the car. It was the same for Gen 2, but on another level.
“Of course, regardless of the fact it is a new powertrain, it is a new race car and so you have to rediscover everything – different chassis, different handling characteristics, and different vehicle dynamics.
“But that is good, we like the challenge of pushing the tech.”
The next gen Formula E car will undergo its official pre-season test later this year ahead of its introduction for the 2022/23 season.
In other news, ‘I Voted’ poll hilariously shows why the internet can’t be trusted (again)
