All-electric Formula-E racing ramps up

The Formula-E championship is comprised of 13 races that take place in 12 cities across five continents. Season five kicked off in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, December 16, 2018, and will take its final lap in New York City on Sunday, July 14, 2019. The next race takes place this Saturday, February 16, in Mexico City, where GEOX DRAGON drivers José María “Pechito” López — a three-time World Touring Car Driver’s Champion and multiple FIA Formula-E podium finisher — and Felipe Nasr — the reigning IMSA Prototype Champion and former Formula-1 pilot — will take to the 2.093-km Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track in pursuit of an electric finish and new accolades.

This year’s event use Gen2 race car architecture. Perhaps the most notable change from Gen1 is the battery. It has double the energy storage capacity of Gen1 cars, which eliminates the need for a mid-race car swap, a feature of the previous competitions.

The battery uses a different construction and cell technology than that of Gen1. It now sits inside the monocoque chassis and contains more cylindrical cells. It also uses a higher voltage for faster charging and less degradation of the race distance.

The maximum power output of Gen2 cars also is 50 kW higher than that of the previous generation. At 250 kW, there is enough power to see potential top speeds of 280 km/h (174 mph).

Also new for the Gen2 car is a brake-by-wire system. Braking in Gen1 cars caused both decelerations from brakes themselves and a varying amount slowing from regenerative braking on the rear wheels. Though the driver could adjust the regen settings from the steering wheel, drivers could still be caught off-guard by a change in braking effort and put the car in a spin.

With the Gen2 car, the ECU balances the amount of braking the driver wants with the amount supplied by regen. The ECU then only applies the rear brakes enough to balance the two factors to give a more consistent braking effect and less chance of a crash. Also with the new system, teams are allowed for the first time to fit brake ducts to the front brakes to tailor brake cooling for track conditions.

The GEOX DRAGON Formula-E racing team is sponsored by Mouser Electronics, TTI, Inc., AVX Corp., and Molex. The world’s first and only racing series with all-electric vehicles, the ABB FIA Formula-E Championship is a fusion of engineering, technology, sport, science, design, music, and entertainment — all rooted in the three core values of energy, environment, and entertainment, and designed to help drive the change towards an all-electric future by accelerating global interest in electric vehicle technology.

“The all-electric Formula-E racing circuit serves as both a catalyst and proving ground for the innovative electronic components and systems responsible for both the edge-of-your-seat excitement that has earned the sport legions of global fans and for inspiring critical performance, efficiency, and safety improvements responsible for making this technology more enticing to consumers and steering the automotive industry towards an all-electric future,” said Alex Schenkel, AVX senior vice president of Global Sales. “We at AVX are thrilled to partner with Mouser, TTI, and Molex to support this cutting-edge, all-electric racing technology and to showcase sustainability in a platform with so much global excitement and appeal. We wish the GEOX DRAGON team and all the Formula-E fans a fast-paced season of good, clean (energy) fun.”

“Formula-E cars require the latest sustainable and — most importantly — high-performance components to gain a competitive edge,” said Todd McAtee, vice president, Americas Business Development for Mouser Electronics. “By teaming up with AVX, TTI, and Molex to sponsor Formula-E, Mouser shows its commitment to keeping engineers up to date with innovative technologies.”

AVX supports electric vehicle technology with the electronic component, interconnect, sensor, control, and antenna solutions designed to provide peak performance in powertrain, active body control, advanced driver assistance system, lighting, power conversion, and drive control systems.