Formula E's Updated Car Adds All-Wheel Drive
Formula E cars are fairly quick around a track by road car standards, but they lag behind most open-wheel race cars on lap times. The series has tried to address this with two major revamps across new generations of car, and a third is on the way. That is still two years out, so in the meantime, Formula E is ramping up the performance of its current Gen 3 car with a major upgrade called Gen 3 Evo.
The biggest improvement is in the front axle, where a powertrain previously only used for battery regeneration is now active for qualifying laps, race starts, and "attack mode" activations. That gives the car temporary all-wheel drive, a major departure from gas-powered open-wheelers, and the main catalyst behind an improved 0-60 time of just 1.8 seconds. That is two-10ths of a second up on the outgoing car, and just under a tenth behind the production car record set by the Rimac Nevera.
Peak power output, total weight, and 600-kW fast charging remain in place from the past car, but Formula E says that aero and tire improvements help make the car 2 percent faster than its predecessor. The tires remain all-weather treaded options built by Hankook, and despite driver complaints, the Bridgestone tires planned to be introduced in generation 4 are also expected to be road-like tires.
The change is not exactly the transformative new development the series needs to bring the excitement of road-going EVs to the track, but it is a major improvement that brings at least some new spectacle to the category's races. Gen 3 Evo is a stopgap solution, ahead of a fourth generation that is expected to bring the series much closer to the performance of other open-wheel racing categories.
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