Formula E’s Future Is Here and It Looks Stunning!

The all-new car was conceived as an all-electric race car and as such, they’ve thrown away the rule book and have come up with something that is truly exciting to look at. The original and current Formula E car was deliberately conservative with its design and tried to package the technology around an existing single seater aerodynamic format. Now though, the designers at Spark Racing Technologies understand what makes an electric single-seater go, aero efficiency. Aero efficiency will be super important when this car launches for the 2018/19 season because the cars will be expected to run the whole race distance rather than have the drivers swap cars halfway through the race.

Downforce hasn’t been completely forgotten about though. That monstrous diffuser at the back of the car is simply mega! I don’t think I’ve seen a diffuser that big on anything before and it looks monstrously wicked. The diffuser and the underside of a car are considered the most efficient way to generate downforce and therefore aero wake should be kept to a minimum meaning that cars, in principle, should be able to run close to one another without having to put up with dirty air when following close to the car in front. This should keep the racing close and not end up like Formula 1’s ridiculous lack of overtaking. It looks pretty bloody great too! Have I said that yet?

What’s really remarkable about this car though is that the Halo isn’t the first thing I, or anyone else it would seem, noticed. It’s no surprise the car has one adorned to the bodywork since the FIA have made it mandatory for all open cockpit racing they oversee, but what’s really unexpected is that Formula E has actually gone and made a feature out of it. The intention is to integrate an LED display system within the forward facing part of the head protection device. Quite how this will be done or what it will be used for hasn’t been announced yet but I expect it will show racing telemetry that is normally only available for television audiences such as battery life, track position etc.

These cars have more than the aesthetics box to tick though. The all-new format is intended to substantially increase top speed, power, and battery performance. Exactly how much faster these cars are supposed to be compared to their predecessor is yet to be announced but Alejandro Agag, Founder & CEO of Formula E, expects that the future of Formula E will shortly begin shifting to race circuits in place of street circuits. The clearest indication yet that these cars will be quick!

Watch the YouTube video on the new car here - https://youtu.be/TypQX-Jx0hI

Credit for this article goes to autoelectrified.com