Formula E returns annually to Red Hook for the New York City ePrix this weekend. Unfortunately Ars won’t be attending the races, which is a shame as it’s my last chance to see the Gen2 electric race car in action. However, I will have to do everything I can to be there in 2023.
Next year there will be major changes for the all-electric racing series, including a much more powerful, much faster race car and changes to some of the rules to make the races interesting. I can’t guarantee it, but I think there’s a good chance we won’t see the return of Fan Boost, which will make some corners of the internet happy.
What’s clear is that the series isn’t afraid to think differently, and it’s helpful to remember that we’re talking about a sport that’s only in its eighth season. Jamie Reigle took over as CEO of Formula E in 2019 and last week I spoke to him about how the series has progressed and what to look forward to in the coming years.
“Honestly, I think it was an element where we probably took things for granted. You know, the world is going electric and that’s why Formula E inherits the world,” Reigle told me. “You know, we have a great proposal and a great next wind, but that’s not a prerequisite for success from a sports perspective. And I think that’s something we’ve spent a lot of time on over the past few years, which is: Okay, well, what would it take to be what we call a premier sport?”
Many of the pieces are probably already there. The sport is contested by some of the best drivers in the world. It races against backgrounds such as the skyline of Manhattan, the harbor of Monaco or the EUR district of Rome. It attracts manufacturers like Porsche, with McLaren and Maserati set to join next year.
“But you have to be able to put all that together into a cohesive story to be a really successful sport,” Reigle said.
Each racing series encompasses a mix of sports competition, technological development and entertainment, with more or less emphasis on one of those pillars depending on the series. (For example, F1 and Le Mans offer far more road-relevant technology transfer than NASCAR, arguably placing a higher premium on entertainment than either of those two.)
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In addition, Reigle pointed out that the series also has its mission to accelerate the change towards an electric future. “So the sport, the technology, the show and the goal – we had to improve on all of those. And now that we’re going into Gen3, I feel like we’ve got the basic elements to, you know, hopefully be able to break through and that to keep that promise,” he said.
The new car
The rapid development of road EVs has been a problem for Formula E, which unveiled the Gen3 car at the end of April. As with the previous car, the look is somewhat polarizing, but almost everyone will be on board with the big power increase, from the old car’s 250 kW (335 hp) to 350 kW (469 hp). He was also on a diet, lost 143kg compared to the Gen2 car and will now weigh 760kg – just less than a current F1 car and just over a current IndyCar.
Balancing how open the rules should be to technology development and the need to keep costs under control is a tough tightrope to walk, and both Audi and BMW left the sport after a few years, saying there was little else for it. them was to learn that they could apply for their street cars. The downside is that the budgets are reasonable enough to attract a team like McLaren.
“You can sell sponsorship, and it wipes its own face and every other development budget. How much are the manufacturers willing to spend on certain areas of development? We’ve tried to isolate ‘what do we think is the difference for manufacturers?’ Because you’re right, the auto industry is going so fast, consumer perceptions are changing so fast. You know, how do we make sure we stay on top? And frankly, we haven’t that’s been the last couple of years, right. And that’s something we really need to get to,” Reigle explained.
Jaguar
The series chose not to switch to four-wheel drive, but the new cars will have a front generator unit that can recover an additional 250 kW through regenerative braking, meaning the new cars should be a lot more efficient than the Gen2 EVs. Multiple New York ePrix winner and Jaguar Racing driver Sam Bird has already tested the new car, which will replace a machine he described to me as “definitely the most challenging car I’ve ever driven in my racing career.”
“I’ve already done a day of testing in our Gen3 car. It’s very exciting – the car is a lot faster. There’s still a long way to go before we figure out how to make the car as fast as possible. I think maybe one day is not enough and we are now working with Hankook tires instead of Michelin, but I was very happy and optimistic with my first day. But it is a big performance improvement, especially in a straight line,” Bird told me.
