Formula E, officially known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. It is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars.

History:

The idea for a city-based, single-seater electric car motor racing championship was conceived by the President of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Jean Todt, and was presented to politicians Alejandro Agag and Antonio Tajani on the 3rd March 2011.

Formula E’s founding mission was for it to race through the streets of some of the most iconic cities in the world – with a grid consisting of the best racing drivers and teams in motorsport – to show what sustainable mobility was capable of, with the aim of driving electric vehicles to the forefront in a race for a better, cleaner environment.

Regulations

The Formula E Championship is currently contested by 22 drivers and 11 teams as of the 2024 season.

The sport features electric-powered race cars that are similar in design to the hybrid-drive cars of Formula One. 

Practice

All practice sessions in Formula E are 30 minutes long, with the first practice session generally taking place on Friday afternoon, whilst the second takes place on Saturday morning – although in Monaco both sessions are held on the Saturday morning. During these sessions, the drivers are allowed to use the full qualifying power output.

On “double-header” weekends, an additional practice session takes place on the Sunday morning.

Qualifying

Qualifying typically takes place later on in the day and lasts approximately one hour. Under the current format, the drivers are split into two groups based on their position in the Championship – those in odd-numbered places go into Group A, whilst those in even-numbered places go into Group B. The only exception is the first race of the season, where each team can nominate one driver into each group.

Each group gets a 10-minute session to set a fastest lap at 300kW, in which the top 4 of each group advances through to the “duels” stage, where the drivers face off head-to-head at 350 kW over a quarter-final, semi-final and final.

The winner of the final lines up on pole, with the loser of the final in second, the losers of the semi-final in 3rd and 4th, and the losers of the quarter-finals in 5th to 8th place according to the times set in their respective sessions. The rest of the grid are placed alternatively with those in the pole-sitter grid in the odd places and the other group in the even places. 

Race Format

Formula E, like most other major motorsport series, currently has races that have a certain lap distance set. Also, for every four laps that are spent under full course yellow of the safety car, an additional lap of racing is added to the race length.

From Season 1-4, Formula E had a lap distance set, with pit-stops to swap cars halfway through as the batteries lacked the capacity to last the whole race. However, from Season 5, the race was set to 45 minutes plus one lap, as the introduction of the Gen2 car that year meant that pit stops were no longer necessary due to the battery now lasting the full race.

Formula E started out in 2014-15 racing solely on street circuits, with many built as temporary circuits (e.g. Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit). The first race on a dedicated racetrack was held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico in the 2017-17 season, albeit heavily shortened compared to the one used in Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The first-ever Formula E race held on a full-length race track configuration of a circuit designed for other racing leagues was the 2023 Portland ePrix at the Portland International Raceway.

Point Scoring

Points are awarded to the top ten drivers using the standard FIA system (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1). The driver that secured the pole position is also awarded 3 points, whilst the driver setting the fastest lap (if they finish in the top ten) additionally receives 1 point (2 points during the first two seasons). In addition, for season six and seven (2019-21), the driver achieving the fastest lap during group qualifying was awarded 1 point.

The championship consists of both a drivers’ and teams’ championship. The driver’s end of season total is made up of a driver’s best results, whereas the team’s total is made up by counting both drivers’ scores throughout the season.

Fanboost

For Formula E’s first eight seasons (2014-22), fans could vote for their favourite driver via the official website or app to potentially provide the teams with an extra power boost which could be activated by pushing the overtake button.

Voting would begin three days before the event and close after the first 15 minutes of the race. The five drivers with the most votes received an extra power burst that could be used in a 5-second window during the second half of the race. Since the 2023 season (Season 9), Fanboost was discontinued.

Attack Mode

In Season 5, a feature known as Attack Mode was introduced, in which drivers received an additional 25 kW (35 kW in Seasons 6 and 7) of power by driving through a designated area of the circuit off the racing line.

The duration of the boost mode and the number of boosts available were decided by the FIA shortly before the race to reduce the time the teams had to find the optimal strategy. All attack modes had to be activated at the end of the race but did not need to be used up. If there is a full course yellow period or a safety car, attack mode is not allowed to be activated.

The Attack Mode format was changed in Season 9, as instead of changing the number of times the drivers had to drive through the activation zone during the race as well as the duration each boost would last, the drivers would now get a combined 4 minutes of Attack Mode to use, that would be used in 2 activation periods throughout the race.

During the first activation period, drivers would have to choose their Attack Mode activation time ‘strategy’, where they could either pick from having 2 2-minute attack mode periods, a 1-minutes then 3-minute period, or vice versa. From the 2023 Jakarta E-Prix, it was lengthened to a combined 8 minutes.

Attack Charge

A new feature known as Attack Charge was set to be introduced in Season 9, however this was delayed due to the need to solve issues with the Gen3 car’s newer batteries. In Attack Charge races, the teams will be required to do a mandatory 30-second stop to recharge the car’s batteries, and the stop will unlock two enhanced attack mode boosts.

Cars

Gen1 Car

For the first four seasons, an electric racing built by Spark Racing Technology, called the Spark-Renault SRT 01E, was used. The chassis was designed by Dallara, a battery system was created by Williams Advanced Engineering and a Hewland five-speed gearbox was used. Michelin was the official tyre supplier.

For the first season, 42 electric cars were ordered by the series, with 4 cars being made available for each of the 10 teams and 2 cars were kept behind for testing purposes.

The first Formula E car had a power of at least 190 kilowatts (250 hp). The car was capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 225 km/h (140 mph). The generators used to re-charge the batteries were powered by glycerine, a by-product of bio-diesel production.

From the second season, powertrain manufacturers were able to produce their own electric motor, inverter, gearbox and cooling system, although the chassis and battery remained the same. There were nine manufacturers creating powertrains for 2016-17 seasonP: ABT Schaeffler, Andretti Technologies, DS-Virgin, Jaguar, Mahindra, NextEV TCR, Penske, Renault and Venturi.

Gen2 Car

The Gen2 car came with a raft of changes and the ability to run a full race on one charge, meaning the end to the series’ mid-race car-swaps. Safety improvements were also built into the new car in the form of the FIA-mandated halo device and ATTACK MODE added an extra layer for drivers and race engineers to get to grips with, meaning there was a higher risk/reward power boost to incorporate into the race strategies.

The Gen2 car consisted of a 54 kWh battery and a power output rising from 200 kW to 250 kW with the top speed also rising to around 280 km/h (174 mph). They were equipped with Brembo braking systems, chosen by Spark Racing Technology as the sole supplier, with Michelin remaining as the tyre manufacturer, supplying all-weather treaded tyres.

Gen3 Car

The Formula E Gen3 car was the successor to the Gen2 car, and was used as the base car for all manufacturers and teams from the 2022-23 Formula E World Championship onwards.

It was announced back in July 2020 that Spark Racing Technology would build the chassis and supply the front axles, Williams Advanced Engineering would supply the batteries, and Hankook would now be supplying all-weather tyres that incorporate bio-material and sustainable rubber.

Power levels for the Gen3 Formula E car are 350 kW in qualifying and 300 kW in the race, with regeneration on both the front and rear axles allowing for a maximum of 600 kW recovery under braking, meaning that more than 40% of the energy used in the race is produced by the regenerative braking. The Gen3 car is capable of reaching a top speed of over 322 kph (200 mph), and features the ability of ultra-high speed charging of 600 kW for additional energy during a race – almost double the power of the most advanced commercial chargers in the world.

Gen3 Evo

The Gen3 Evo has been developed by specialists from Formula E and the FIA to mark a significant leap in electric racing technology, with acceleration from 0-60 mph being 30% faster than a current F1 car, and 36% faster than the Gen3 car.

Some key technical enhancements for the new Gen3 Evo race car include:

• The quickest accelerating FIA single-seater race car – Capable of 0-60 mph in 1.82 seconds (0-100 kph in 1.86s).
• Performance upgrades mean an estimated 2% performance gain from Gen3, equal to 0.2 seconds faster qualifying lap on the Monaco circuit, offering world-class racing on any track.
• A new body kit has been designed to be stronger, more robust and more aerodynamic, delivering closer wheel-to-wheel racing.
• All-wheel drive – available during qualifying duels, race starts and ATTACK MODE.
• Optimised all-weather Hankook iON tyres providing 5-10% more grip, made from 35% recycled and sustainable materials (+9% vs Gen3 spec).