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I’ ve been reading about Formula E for a few months now.
It’s essentially an electric version of Formula 1.
Big deal!? Yeah, well…
- first its quite a lot less noisy which means you can go to watch the race without risking hearing impairment, and you can even converse with the people around you!
- second for those who don’t want to watch they don’t need to suffer the noise of a traditional race (I’ve been in Valencia during a race and 3km down the beach we still had to raise our voices over the noise)
- third, this will push the technology to new levels (power electronics, battery cooling, traction control software, energy recovery in braking etc.)
- and fourth, it will increase public awareness of electric vehicles and their potential.
Being relatively quiet races they are targeting city circuits (the best races in my opinion). They already have Rome, Hong Kong, Rio and London, and I hear that L.A. and Beijing are on their way. Even places like Marrakesh and Cape Town (finally Africa get involved!) could enter the list of 10 destinations.
For the first season at least they are not doing recharging or battery switching. They are doing car switching! I’m not impressed by this but let’s cut them some slack for the first season at least. Maybe later they could consider something like two batteries per car, where they would switch and charge the first after a while and then switch again later in the race. This would accelerate battery switching and rapid charging technology really well.
Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to discuss this with Formula E holdings … the founder, Alejandro Agag, is Spanish, from Valencia. Ok he’s one of world’s most wealthy individuals and lives in the UK now, but who knows! Maybe my good buddy Ricard Fraguas can make something happen. After all, I do drive a Tesla Roadster every day 馃槈
Drive & Dream 