Everything you need to know about Formula E

It’s in only its third season but Formula E already looks like one of motorsport’s biggest 21^st-century successes. With a huge emphasis on fan engagement and, of course, all-electric cars, this new kid on the racing block has had major manufacturers scrambling to get involved, and generated plaudits aplenty in the autosport world

The background

Formula E was born in 2012 when FIA announced that there was to be a new motorsport championship, with cars powered by electricity, that would appeal to a younger audience and offer ‘a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades’.

It was a heady ambition but, just two years later, in September 2014, the first Formula E race took place in Beijing, on a circuit laid out around the 2008 Olympic Games grounds. That race was won by former F1 driver Lucas di Grassi, after a terrifying collision at the final corner took out the leading cars of Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld … and propelled Formula E into the headlines.

Now in its third series, it has already attracted an estimated 1 million spectators, many of them new to motorsports, as well as a huge following on social media with almost 5 billion mentions in the first season alone.

Since then, the series has gone from strength to strength, attracting some of the biggest companies in motorsport (F1 behemoths Mercedes being the latest to express an interest) and hosting races in some of the most iconic city locations in the world.

The cars

Formula E cars represent the cutting edge of electric vehicle technology and the series has become a test-bed for innovation that could translate into our road cars.

Areas such as cooling technology, battery management, software and performance electronics are all pushed to the limit as the cars get better and better at using the power at their disposal.

Although drivers currently use two cars during a race (the current batteries cannot last a full race distance) the aim is to eliminate this within the next few seasons. When Formula E finds ways of extending the range as well as performance of its electric cars, you can be sure the technology will find its way into our family saloons soon enough.

Teams were supplied with a standard car for season one – the Spark-Renault SRT01E. It featured tech from some of the biggest names in motorsport, including a McLaren electric motor, a Dallara chassis and a Williams battery system.

Since then, teams have been given far more freedom to develop their cars, building their own electric motors, cooling systems, gearboxes and inverters.

For the third season, a new front wing has been introduced. It’s an aggressive double-decker affair and is a largely cosmetic addition, to help differentiate Formula E cars from other open-wheeled racers. And Formula E intends to keep working hard on its looks. An amazing new chassis is planned for season five and there are high hopes that cars will look even more aggressive as a result.

On the technical side, one of the biggest changes for this season has been that teams are allowed to harvest much more energy from the cars during a race. In fact, the regeneration limit has gone up by 50 per cent to 150kW, meaning efficient cars gain a big advantage by having more power to call on over race distance.

Williams Advanced Engineering introduced a new battery to permit this increase in energy harvesting and it’s a great example of a technology being developed in Formula E that could impact on how our own domestic electric and hybrid cars perform.

You won’t see any pit-stops for new tyres in Formula E, unless someone has a puncture. One set of Michelin’s 18-inch tyres have to last each car for the entire race weekend, and the 2016-17 versions have been designed with less roll resistance and an improved ability to warm up to operating temperature, as well as being lighter than in previous seasons – again, these are the sorts of developments that could well help improve the efficiency of our own cars’ road tyres.

The races

A race day gets under way at 8am, when the opening practice session gives bleary-eyed fans their first chance to see the cars on track, and drivers have two cars to play with and their maximum 200kW power supply.

Qualifying is around noon and lasts for an hour.

There’s a heap of action as drivers are divided into small groups, and get six minutes to nail a super-fast lap, again with the maximum 200kW of power on tap.

After these group stages are complete, the five fastest drivers go out one-by-one in the Super Pole Shootout to determine who’ll start in pole position – and get three points as a reward too.

Then there’s a break before the race proper. Races last around 50 minutes and there’s a mandatory pitstop to change cars due to the batteries not lasting long enough yet (that’s also why power output is restricted to 170kW during the race).

The top ten drivers get points, just as in Formula 1, and there’s also a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race.

Going social

Unique to Formula E and not a little controversial is the FanBoost. Designed to encourage social media interaction, this allows fans to vote for their favourite driver. Voting is open for a couple of weeks before the race until six minutes after the start. The three drivers with the most votes get a bonus 100kJ of energy to use during the race, temporarily boosting their car power to a handy 180-200kW.

The effect of FanBoost on races has been lessened since season one, to try to minimise the likelihood that race winners could be decided by a vote rather than by their driving skills.

The environment

Formula E was designed from the outset to be far more environmentally friendly than traditional race series. The cars use glycerine to power them. Glycerine is made by UK company Aquafuel and a single generator can fully charge all 40 Formula E cars for a race in about 50 minutes.

This glycerine is carbon-neutral, and is a by-product of biodiesel production, as well as being farmed from salt-water algae in coastal areas that are unsuitable for other crops.

Michelin’s Formula E tyres are designed to be super-efficient, and run in all weathers. And they are all recycled once the race is run.

The racing takes place on city street circuits – only the Mexican ePrix runs on a traditional track but even that one is in the heart of Mexico City.

That means there are none of the pollution problems associated with building new tracks and concrete infrastructure. And, because Formula E discourages spectators from driving to events, race weekend pollution is largely confined to the public transport that fans use.

In addition, the race calendar itself is designed to minimise the amount of travel teams must face and, with series partner DHL, Formula E prefers to use sea, rail and road freighting rather than airfreight.