We are still in the middle of the Formula 1 season, but the Formula E season is almost coming to an end. High time to take a closer look at the new car. One that is significantly faster than the 2022 edition.
From Gen2 to Gen3
Feast your eyes on the coming weeks, because that’s the last time you’ll see the Gen2 electric race car in action. Its successor Gen3 has been announced and that promises to be a true racing monster. The car is much more powerful and faster. Some changes to the rules have also been announced, making the sport even more exciting. In any case, we see two new teams entering the sport: McLaren and Maserati. On the other hand, we have also seen a number of brands leave recently: Mercedes, BMW and Audi did not think they could learn enough in the sport.
What makes Formula E so interesting is that everyone drives the same car. This means that ‘the car’ of 2023 will actually be used by all drivers. And that is a monstrous machine: it has gone from 250 kW to 350 kW. But no matter how much the wattage has increased, the weight of the race car has gone down enormously. It weighs 760 kilograms, which is 143 kilograms less than the predecessor. It is also less than a Formula 1 car weighs. The cars were already much improved: drivers now finish a race in one car, instead of having to switch because the battery died.
No rear brake
The new cars are not all-wheel drive: they have a generator at the front that can generate an additional 250 kilowatts when braking. This makes the car considerably more efficient. It is expected that 40 percent of the race will be driven with energy generated on site on the track. The battery capacity is smaller and the car has no rear brakes: all with the aim of getting as much power as possible on that front engine to generate new energy again.
In the meantime, we are also working hard on even faster ways to charge, because that makes the sport even more fun to watch. If a car is standing still for minutes because it needs to charge, that’s not great, but at the same time it’s good to push companies to think about faster ways to charge. Moreover, pit stops also make it a more interesting sport, because there is more strategy involved. You see that in Formula 1: often it is pit stops that change the playing field.
Fan boost
The new rules will probably put an end to the fan boost, a controversial Formula E option. It was a variant of the attack mode where drivers could earn a kind of boost like in Mario Kart by passing timing loops (which are outside the racing line): you get an extra 35 Watts for two minutes. Super cool, but with fanboost only the five drivers who received the most votes on social media received such an extra booster.
Something that certainly not everyone is enthusiastic about. On the one hand it is meant to bind fans more to the sport, but on the other hand it is reason for people not to watch, because they find it artificial. We are looking at ways to maintain that fan engagement, but then give it a different meaning.
Formula E season 2023
Formula E teams have only been allowed to spend a maximum number of euros per season for a year: 13 million per team. It is therefore extra important what the standard becomes. In any case, the car promises to go like the fire brigade again: it can reach speeds of 322 kilometers per hour. It is not for nothing that it is based on the appearance of a fighter plane. The bodywork consists of recycled carbon fiber and linen. Michelin is no longer the tire supplier, because that is Hankook. That will also have an impact.
Hankook has the advantage of using a quarter of natural rubber and recycled material in its tires. Because yes, it remains Formula E, always with an emphasis on sustainability. Partly for this reason, it is also a pity that some brands have stopped for that reason: they thought they could not learn enough for their street cars. But with the popularity of Formula 1 and the maturing of Formula E, it is a branch of sport that is becoming more and more popular and is being further developed, something that you can of course also see in the further automotive business.
For now, we have a few more races to race in the current season, after which Formula E returns on January 14, 2023 in Mexico City.
Laura Jenny
When she’s not tapping, she’s traveling around the wonderful world of entertainment or some cool place in the real world. Mario is the man of her life,…
