The second chapter of Formula E’s story is just around the corner.
FE, now in its fourth season, has used the same Dallara-designed single seaters since the series inception, though it soon will unveil the new “Batman-style” cars that will contest the world championship in 2018-19, CEO Alejandro Agag revealed Wednesday in a column for Motorsport.com.
Although allowing manufacturers to develop their own powertrains starting in season two has made FE cars faster, they are visually the same as they were in season one, apart from the addition of dual-plane front wings in 2016.
“The ‘Batman-style’ car will look very different to any single-seater out there — it is futuristic and eye-catching,” Agag said. “Performance-wise we are also very excited as the initial data we gathered during testing is showing a considerably higher speed.”
The new electric racers’ batteries, as promised, will provide significantly more range per charge, eliminating the need for mid-race car swaps. The improved energy storage, combined with higher levels of performance, could cause FE to reconfigure some of the street circuits it currently races on.
“It will be our biggest breakthrough yet to put this car on the track,” Agag said. “In fact, we might have to see how that affects some of the layouts of the city tracks we use, because it may be that the car could start to outgrow some of them; we’ll be able to take a much more informed position when we have seen the full performance of the car.”
We personally would love if the “Batman-style” racers have enough pace and/or range for FE to run the full Monaco Grand Prix circuit, rather than the abridged version it used in seasons one and three.
