Formula E is a new laboratory for car development – 03/23/2023 – Market

Formula E debuts in Brazil with a role that already belonged to Formula 1: to serve as a laboratory for cars that will arrive in different countries.

The electric vehicles that will pass through the Anhembi Sambódromo (north zone of São Paulo) this Saturday (25th) bring together technologies that will be in passenger cars that do not burn fuel.

The circuit has 14 laps, each with 2.96 kilometers. The start takes place on the same street where the Carnival parades take place, and then follows a combination of straights and curves in the region.

The current season brings important changes. The racing models reached the third generation and, by virtue of the regulation, became lighter. The batteries alone have lost about 100 kilos compared to other years.

To compensate, ABB, a company specializing in electrification technologies, had to develop new chargers. One of them is compact, but has power similar to that of the ultra-fast sockets found on some highways in Brazil. Portable, it should reach charging stations around the world.

There is also an even more efficient 600 kW system. When conventional automobiles have the capacity to receive so much energy, it will be possible to complete the batteries in a few minutes. During the test, it takes 30 seconds to recover about 10% of the charge.

Spending per team is limited: the amount is equivalent to BRL 65 million per season. Despite this, automakers and their suppliers work in parallel to take what is developed on the tracks to the cars that hit the streets.

Porsche, which has participated in the competition since the 2019-2020 season, developed its prototype together with the Taycan sports sedan, which is 100% electric. Solutions such as the position of the batteries and their cooling system are constantly evolving due to the experience gained in racing.

The German automaker started working with electrification in another competition, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 800V voltage system used in its cars – which allows for a lower current, reducing the weight of the components – came from the 919 Hybrid, three-time champion of the race.

The Japanese Nissan also shares solutions between competition cars and models that hit the streets, but without an isolated development for each case.

“There are no specific technologies transferred as such, i.e. the technology base is the same,” says Tomasso Volpe, Nissan Formula E Team Director.

“But if it’s the same technology, what we can say is that the competition also plays a role as a testing ground for our research and development department. We produce additional Intellectual Property, mainly for very high performance electric motors, where the level of Energy efficiency in the engine is very, very high.”

The director also highlights the advances in energy management systems, another common point between road and road cars.

Nissan has been in Formula E for five seasons, but it is now undergoing a major change: the carmaker has taken full control of the team.

“It’s kind of a new beginning, which we try to communicate through our visuals, the Sakura theme. [Cerejeira]which represents in Japanese culture the birth of a new era in spring”, says Volpe.

Tickets for the São Paulo leg of the e-Prix, as the Brazilian leg is called, can be purchased through the Eventim website:

Ticket prices range from R$300 to R$350, with half price options. The age rating is 16 and all minors must be accompanied by an adult.