The recent controversial American science fiction tv series, Extant (starring Halle Berry) features a world where all kinds of vehicles have evolved to full-electric capabilities. Despite still being a long way to that phase, the world motorsport has started exploring a vision of that future with the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship.
What came into your mind when you heard electric-car racing for the very first time? Four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who derided the sound of new V6 turbo engine introduced to F1 this year as “sh*t”, unsurprisingly referred to the new single-seater series as “cheese”.
With the cars being moderately open-wheel and the series falling under the title of ‘formula’, the new championship will inevitably be compared with F1, which has already existed for 65 years as the pinnacle of motorsport.
Some F1 cynics argue FE does not embrace the market and would lead itself to a dead end because manufactories (with the exception of Tesla), barely build fully-electric powered sedans despite the great ambition shared by Agag and his fellows.
It sounds logical, doesn’t it? But does the winner of the Nobel Physics Prize make a lesser contribution to human beings than the winner of the Nobel Chemistry Prize? The comparison doesn’t exist at all as you are talking about two completely different areas.
Alejandro Agag, the CEO of FE Holdings, or nicknamed the ‘Electric Bernie Ecclestone’, likes the ‘cheese’ - insisting FE has its ‘own contribution’ to make in order to build a platform for developing new technology for electric car industry, which is totally different to F1.
Since the first ever ‘Grand Prix’ motor racing dates back to 1894 as a result of the enthusiasm with which the French embraced the car, motorsport has been closely bound up with petrol. Today, with the launch of FE, it walks into a virgin territory.
Alain Prost, a legend of F1 and also the co-founder of E.Dams-Renault Formula E team, has been following the new format from the very beginning and revealed they have already been discussing new technologies related to electric energy to be introduced within the next 3-4 years.
Formula E's Dream come true
Chinese F1 journalist Frankie Mao assesses the impact of Formula E and why it's now more relevant that it's open-wheeler contempories.