Traditional automakers trying to catch up with electric car leaders like Tesla are relying on their Formula E championship racing teams to innovate to create the best production electric cars with more range and efficiency at a lower price.
Formula E is still struggling to attract motorsport enthusiasts, but so far Formula 1 still attracts a much larger audience for historical reasons, bigger budgets, the presence of legendary fixed circuits and better information support.
But the traditional carmakers involved in the electric championship say the race is aimed at maximizing energy regeneration – Formula E cars start the race with only 60% of the required battery charge and must generate the rest by recuperating braking energy. Ultimately, the racing series helps them develop more efficient motors and inverters, as well as software to improve performance and mileage, according to Reuters.
Tata Motors is investing £15bn in its Jaguar Land Rover unit to catch up in the electric car market, using silicon carbide inverter technology developed for Formula E cars to boost the efficiency of its next-generation premium electric cars. JLR has already used battery temperature management expertise to increase the range of the Jaguar I-Pace EV by 20 km.
Nissan is also catching up in the electric car market, planning to release 19 fully electric models by 2026. Nissan Formula E team principal Tommaso Volpe said his race car’s software was originally based on that of the Nissan Leaf. According to him, Nissan wants to use more efficient motors, inverters and smaller batteries for mass-market electric vehicles across the entire model range. The team’s senior engineer in France meets weekly with the powertrain developers in Japan to share the latest news.
Porsche takes from its Formula E team not only the technology to develop luxury electric cars, but also the talent. According to director Florian Modlinger, the automaker moved two of the Formula E program’s top engineers to the road models last year.
Stellantis is promoting electric models in the affordable segment and is taking the lessons learned from its DS Formula E team and transferring them to 13 internal brands to accelerate the development of electric vehicles, said DS Performance director Eugenio Franzetti.
Formula E made replays of all races freely available (9 seasons, 116 stages)
