All-electric F1 series?

Jean Todt, former Scuderia Ferrari F1 team boss turned Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) boss is broadening the motor sport peak body’s sights to eventually include an electric car racing schedule alongside conventional Formula One.

Autoblog reports that Todt wants to start on lower-key events using go-karts and smaller single-seat vehicles and work up towards a full-scale all-electric F1 series. The FIA announced recently that it’s already in negotiations with the European Commission to develop an EV racing series.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone reportedly doesn’t share Todt’s interest in the idea, but there are two reasons to believe he might come around. Firstly, the auto industry is in the very earliest phase of an unstoppable expansion into alternative power sources, one which will eventually see interest in IC drop off, albeit not for some decades yet. Secondly, F1 plays a valuable – not to mention lucrative – role as test bed for the advancement of automotive technologies. With so many stakeholders sinking so much into making electric power viable, it’s not inconceivable that a racing series could play an important part in that process.

Ecclestone might note, too, that the idea has already attracted the attention of parties less interested in his sport than himself. First hand up to express interest was that of Mitsubishi. The Japanese company’s president, Osamu Masuko, normally not a fan of motor sports, sees enough commercial merit in the idea to enthuse about it publicly.

“The development costs for electric vehicles seem much lower than for gasoline cars, and it would also contribute to the technological development of cars that are already on the market,” he told Japan Today.

Peugeot, meanwhile, has set a new record for electric power around the Nurburgring with its EX1 sportster. First unveiled at 2010 Paris motor show, the EX1, a radical open-top two-seater that looks half car half motorcycle, completed a 20.8km lap of the Nordschliefe circuit in 9 minutes 1.338 seconds, demolishing the 9:51 record set in 2010 by a modified MINI E. And that was in conditions driver Stephane Caillet described as ‘unfavourable’.

Weighing less than a tonne, the EX1 uses two electric motors – one front, one rear – putting out an aggregate of 240kW and 480Nm.

Good for 0-100km/h in around 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 260km/h, it had already broken six speed records for a vehicle in its weight category: 1/8 mile (8.89sec), 1/4 mile (14.4s), 500m (16.81s), 1/2 mile (23.85s), 1000m (28.16s), and 1 mile (41.09s).

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