Formula E has announced its new third-generation (Gen3) electric car, which it claims is the world’s most efficient racing car. The Gen3 car will start racing in the 2022-2023 season and will start testing early in New Year. It is both lighter and smaller than the Gen2 car it replaces, and up to 40 percent of all the energy that it uses during the races will be produced from regenerative breaking.
Read: Facebook forced to sell Giphy over anti-competitive concerns
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and Formula E say that this improved regenerative breaking technology means that they are able to remove hydraulic brakes from the rear of the Gen3 car altogether.
The Gen3 car is also the first in the series that has electric motors both at the front and the back axles. The rear 350kW powertrain will be complemented by a 250kW one at the front. With a total of 600kW, they’ll more than double the regenerative capability of the Gen2. The rear motor can also deliver up to 350kW of power at a top speed of 320kph. As such, Formula E has said that the power-to-weight ratio is twice as efficient as an equivalent combustion engine.
“In designing the Gen3 car, we set out to demonstrate that high performance, efficiency and sustainability can co-exist without compromise,” Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle said in a statement. “Together with the FIA, we have built the world’s most efficient and sustainable high performance race car. The Gen3 is our fastest, lightest, most powerful and efficient racing car yet.”
Unfortunately we haven’t really seen the design of the new car yet – Formula E has only released a couple of teaser images. However, since the testing will start in a few months, we should see a lot more information being released before then.
