The Formula-E championship : one step closer

If you don't already know it, Formula-E is the awaited FIA championship featuring Formula cars powered exclusively by electric energy. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades. Earlier this August the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has reached an agreement to licence the commercial rights of the FIA Formula E Championship to a consortium of international investors, Formula-E Holdings Ltd (FEH).

Demonstration runs of the Formula-E cars will start in 2013, followed by the championship in 2014 with an objective of 10 teams and 20 drivers participating in the competition. The races will be ideally staged in the heart of the world’s leading cities, around their main landmarks. The search for the ideal locations is nearly over, with the announcement of Rome following that of Rio de Janeiro as the two first locations for the street races, with all the rest to follow with successive announcements starting January 2013.

McLaren Electronic Systems will be the provider of motors, transmissions, control units, electronics and what else may be needed to power the cars. McLaren were the natural choice as the supplier, as they already supply all the current F1 teams with the standard electric control units which go into every single car. However, the actual Formula E cars will be assembled by a company called Spark Racing Technology.

For that purpose earlier in November FEH placed an order for 42 cars to SRT. Until now the championship team has been working with a French designed prototype called "Folmulec" ; the first electric Formula racing car using high performance lithium batteries. FEH acquired the Formulec technology last August and believes that the experience to be gained working with the Formulec prototype will serve as a basis for the new Spark cars and for other potential interested constructors. That is another interesting point of the whole attempt, since FEH has been working hard to encourage other car designers and constructors to build a Formula E car, in order to give the whole glamour and appeal of its older sibling the F1, but still had made no significant announcements on that front.

For more Formula-E news, visit this blog.