PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Formula for success
Technology innovations for the Formula E race series is helping to accelerate electrification
advancements for road-going vehicles and further increase their commercial uptake
The momentum behind
Formula E, the all-electric race
series which has just finished o its
fifth season, is really starting to
build. Radical changes to the race
format have made it more
compelling viewing for sports fans,
while simultaneously presenting the
competing teams with greater
technological challenges to
overcome. The 13-round race series
is staged in cities across the globe,
including Bern, Marrakesh, Hong
Kong, Santiago, Monaco, Rome,
Mexico City and Berlin, culminating
in a double-header in New York
with two races taking place over
one weekend.
The impressive capability of the
cars has done much to dispel the
myth that electric vehicles can’t o er
an exciting driving experience. The
latest models produce enough
power to launch from 0 to 100km/h
(62mph) in just 2.6 seconds and
reach top speeds of 280km/h
(174mph), with former F1 greats such
as Felipe Massa and Sébastien
Buemi to be found in the cockpits.
Rival teams rely on the funding
and expertise of high-profile
companies such as Nissan, Audi,
Virgin, BMW, ABB, Jaguar and
Panasonic. While this emerging form
of motoracing is designed to
entertain the crowds attending
E-Prix events, which are becoming
increasingly popular especially with
younger demographics, it has other
important objectives too. These are
to promote the widespread use of
electric vehicles on public roads,
and also to act as a testbed for
which engineering innovations can
be developed that will help to further
accelerate their commercial uptake.
168 // July 2019 // www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
Setting itself apart from what has
happened before, from this latest
season onward each driver will use
the same car for the entire race, just
like a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Until the
2019 season, constraints on battery
reserves had made this unfeasible,
which meant it forced drivers to
swap into a second fully-charged
car halfway through the race in
order to continue.
Though the teams involved have
had several years to prepare for the
move from first-generation Formula
E technology to the new secondgeneration
incarnation, it has still
been a daunting prospect that has
required the performance envelope
to be pushed to its very limits. The
second-generation cars have a
maximum power output of 250kW,
which translates to approximately
339ps. As result, drivers are able to
complete laps up to 5% faster than
the previous seasons. With the
major advances in battery
technology, the vehicles’ energy
storage capacity is almost twice
that of the previous generation,
and this gives provides close to
double the range.
Through its ongoing sponsorship
of the Geox Dragon team, Mouser
Electronics is playing its part in
encouraging future electric vehicle
proliferation. The team has been in
Formula E since the very beginning
with the first race Beijing back in
September 2014, and has taken part
in 52 E-Prix events so far, gaining
nine podium finishes and taking first
place on two occasions.
Mouser sponsors the Geox Dragon team, which has been involved in Formula E since the very fi rst race
FREE READER INQUIRY SERVICE
To learn more about Mouser, visit:
www.magupdate.co.uk/PEHV
/www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
/PEHV