MOTORSPORT: Lots more spark for Formula E

All-electric single-seater, open-wheeler race series Formula E will have eight powertrain suppliers -- twice as many as Formula One -- for its second season.

In its first season, barely one-third completed, all 20 cars run by the 10 Formula E teams are powered by a unit made by McLaren Electronic Systems, an associate of the McLaren F1 team.

However, for the second season that will start late this year French manufacturer Renault, five of the competing teams and two new companies have been accredited by the governing Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to supply powertrains.

The series will continue to use the control chassis from France’s Spark Racing Technology but is intent on introducing a diversity of batteries in its third season. For now all the cars use batteries produced by a company owned by Williams F1.

By the fifth season the Formula E organisers want drivers to be able to complete the hour-long races in one car, rather than have to swap to a second mid-race as they are now because of the limited battery life.

While the Spaniard running the series, Alejandro Agag, has been at pains to avoid comparison with F1, he is adamant that costs of Formula E as a test bed for the development of electric vehicle technology won’t get out of control as they have in F1, which is down to nine two-car teams (unless Marussia is reborn as Manor) and has four powertrain suppliers -- Mercedes, Renault, Ferrari and Honda.

Renault, which powered Red Bull Racing to four consecutive F1 world titles before Mercedes’ domination of the first season of the new hybrid era last year, already is a technical partner of Formula E and associated with the championship-leading French team e.DAMS.

The five teams that will become powertrain makers are Germany’s Audi-linked ABT Sportsline, America’s Andretti, India’s Mahindra, Monaco’s Venturi Automobiles and Britain’s Virgin Racing Engineering.

The other suppliers will be Motomatica with Italian ex-F1 driver Jarno Trulli’s team and NEXTEV TCR with Team China Racing.

“It’s fantastic for Formula E to have this many manufacturers wanting to be a part of the championship after just four races, and shows great confidence in the series,” Agag said.

“One of our objectives from the beginning was to promote technology competition, but we cannot do that as organisers of the championship. We need ‘actors’ to join and to develop technologies to fight against each other in the races.

“Through this fight we improve the technology and then, with this improved technology,  we improve electric cars in general.

“We expect more manufacturers to join from season three onwards and we’re already talking with many different manufactures and also OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).”

“I think that already [behind some of the names announced] there are some OEMs, who however want to maintain a cautious approach to see if the championship grows in strength.

“Cost control is one of the key elements of our project. We are aiming for gradual technical development, while focusing on the things that really count.

“That’s why, next season, work will be allowed on the powertrain, the inverter, the energy regenerators and on the overall energy efficiency.

“Furthermore, each team will be able to ask a given constructor for its powertrain to be supplied at a fixed maximum cost, thus allowing even the smaller teams to benefit from technology that would otherwise be unattainable.

“From the third season different batteries will be allowed, although there will still only be one chassis supplier.

“The fifth season will see a significant change, in that instead of the use of two cars per race each driver will use just one, thus requiring a doubling of battery life.

“It’s an ambitious target and, in order to reach it, competition between these constructors and others that might participate in the future will be vital.”

Jean Todt, the former world rally champion co-driver and maestro sports car and Ferrari F1 team manager who has championed Formula E as president of the FIA, claimed that the category’s first four events in China, Malaysia, Uruguay and Argentina had been “a great success”.

The next two are in the US -- at Miami, Florida, on March 14 and Long Beach, California, on April 4 -- followed by Monaco, Berlin and Moscow, with a two-day finale in London at the end of June.

Australia’s Matthew Brabham has raced in two Formula E rounds for the Andretti team and the Adelaide and Gold Coast street circuits have been mooted as potential venues for an Australian round of the series.

“This innovative and spectacular discipline is in the process of gaining its sporting and technical credibility,” Todt said.

“The arrival of manufacturers for its second season is the next stage in Formula E’s development.

“The gradual opening up of the regulations will promote innovation, while at the same time keeping costs under control.

“The solutions chosen by the manufacturers will hopefully lead to rapid development of the future-focused technologies at the heart of Formula E.”