EV Engineering News

Formula E electric racing begins first season as an FIA world championship in Saudi Arabia

Formula E, the urban electric racing series, begins its seventh season, and its first as an official FIA World Championship, on February 26 and 27, with a nighttime double header on the streets of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

This season’s events will be broadcast live in over 150 countries around the world. Formula E has inked new or extended media partnerships with over 40 broadcasters, including CBS in the US, and Discovery (Eurosport) in Europe. The races will be broadcast in more than 30 languages.

There are 12 racing teams, each with two drivers. Among the team sponsors are several prominent EV OEMs, including Audi, BMW, DS, Jaguar, Mahindra, Mercedes, NIO and Nissan.

The current second-generation race car packs enough energy storage capacity to complete a whole race (the previous generation performed a mid-race car swap).  The Gen2 racer cranks out 250 kW (335 bhp) of power, and can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, on the way to a top speed of 280 km/h (174 mph).

Title partner ABB provides purpose-built charging infrastructure for the racing series, and this year it will provide lighting technology for the championship’s first night race. The 2.5-kilometer street course of 21 turns hugs the ancient walls of Diriyah, and will be lit by low-power LED technology. According to ABB, all power required for the event, including the LED floodlighting, will be provided by biofuel.

Further races this season will take place in Rome (April 10, 2021); Valencia, Spain (April 24); Monaco (May 8); Marrakesh, Morocco (May 22) and Santiago, Chile (June 5 and 6).

Source: Formula E

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