Formula E

[aleks_ader]

Interesting comment under this video...3



What you guys think? Does the guy had "right" source?

[grettu]

I don't know, I am afraid there is a politic agenda to push forward this kind of cars and competition.

When I will see one of their race, I will give a definitive opinion.

[Andres125sx]

I am afraid there is a politic agenda to push forward this kind of cars and competition.

So when electric cars were ignored it was due to a politic agenda, and now that electric development continue it´s also a politic agenda....

IMHO petrol companies killed electric development all they could, around 30-40 years wich is quite a lot, but today electric setups are simply too easy to use, so they coudn´t stop it anymore

It´s lithium batteries what changed the game, even when batteries still need a lot more development to be practical for any application, they´re at a point electric cars are useful for many applications (city, going to the job, school, supermarket, for scooters...) and that´s thanks to lithium batteries. There was electric cars 40 years back, but Pb batteries and Niquel batteries were simply too heavy and/or too little range to be useful. Lithium changed it all as it reduce weight to a half for same capacity. They are not valid for long trips yet but for daily use they´re great

That´s the reason electric cars are growing at a high rate lately, not any political agenda. And next generation batteries (LiS and LiO) will improve energy density so much more than electric vehicles will become standard. This means car manufacturers need to learn about electric setups because they´re the future, and not so distant future (10 years more or less). That´s the reason all of them have some electric car on their catalog, and also the reason FE exist even when current batteries are too heavy for racing. They need to develop this technology because it will be standard soon so any manufacturer ignoring EVs will become out of date soon

That´s the reason for FE, not any political agenda

[Jonnycraig]

Vergne says that Formula E cars are trickier to drive than current F1 cars:

Ex-Formula 1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne told AUTOSPORT that it does not matter to him that the first-generation Formula E cars are slower than most other major single-seaters.

"Even if it's not quick, it's still extremely difficult to drive," he said.

"There's not much grip, and the cars are heavy. It's a lot more difficult to maximise than some other cars.

"You talk to the other drivers and they say it is harder to be quick in this car than an F1 car.

"In an F1 car, you know when a corner can be taken flat-out and you can trust the grip.

"Here you cannot trust anything. The car is moving around a lot more, and it doesn't feel easy."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118802

[RicME85]

Makes sense, a car with a lot less down force and rock hard road tyres is going to be trickier than an F1 car with slicks.

[mzso]

Makes sense, a car with a lot less down force and rock hard road tyres is going to be trickier than an F1 car with slicks.

Not really. By this logic all passenger cars (or at least sports cars) are harder to drive than f1 cars.

[Andres125sx]

Makes sense, a car with a lot less down force and rock hard road tyres is going to be trickier than an F1 car with slicks.

Not sure if agree.... there´s a limit for anything, and finding the limit while cornering at 4G must not be easier than at 1.5G

But coping with variable torque both accelerating and braking must not be easy, as managing energy

[Jonnycraig]

T1-T2 at Monaco looks setup for carnage at the start later!

[Jordan44]

T1-T2 at Monaco looks setup for carnage at the start later!

Looks like you were right! Race wasn't too bad.

[hollus]

I asked for the comparison between F1 and formula E in Monaco and some WotSit obliged and made it for me:

I have to say that the formula E´s stack much worse than I thought against F1. How much is their power in HPs again? They still look like racing cars, but they make Monaco (or part of it) look like a road course! It will be interesting yo see the year-on-year progress here.

[ChrisF1]

Great comparison video, thanks for posting.

I wonder how much they lose by using road based tyres, or would a change to racing tyres actually be slower due to greater rolling resistance?

[Andres125sx]

I asked for the comparison between F1 and formula E in Monaco and some WotSit obliged and made it for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bvBQuxNAUE
I have to say that the formula E´s stack much worse than I thought against F1.

I told you so

Looking forward to onboard comparisons to F1.

Really?, the comparison will obviously be

Comparing with F1 is a nosense, FE power and downforce are similar to F3, not F1

Comparing with F1 FE cars are heavier, with around a quarter of the power, and probably not even a quarter of the downforce

Not even the tires are comparable, FE tires must last a whole GP with qualifying, free practice and race, so even if they´d have same power and downforce they still will be much slower

800bhp vs 200bhp
Really high downforce vs testimonial downforce
Racing soft slicks that last 15-20 laps vs grooved tires that last FP, qualifying and the whole race

So the three aspects that mostly affect laptimes are not comparable, only with one of them laptimes would be much slower, with the three at once you got that difference

Not sure what did you expect.

[J.A.W.]

Then the question asked must surely be..

Why have the FIA/Formula E regs been designed to provide such a predicably limp racing machine/race?

It would appear to be predicated to be - no competition - as a spectacle, & thus be dismissed by hardened race fans.

Almost - as if you wanted to be able to proclaim.. "Yeah, we tried it & no one liked it - it was lame, so we dropped it."

[RicME85]

Well the tires are about cost and sustainability

[mzso]

Then the question asked must surely be..

Why have the FIA/Formula E regs been designed to provide such a predicably limp racing machine/race?

It would appear to be predicated to be - no competition - as a spectacle, & thus be dismissed by hardened race fans.

Almost - as if you wanted to be able to proclaim.. "Yeah, we tried it & no one liked it - it was lame, so we dropped it."

I expect anything to suck that's FIA controlled these days. Starting with F1.