Formula E, later this year, will be entering a new era of electric motorsport by introducing its third generation chassis design with gobs of technological updates and advancements. Porsche, as you might imagine, was eager to get its hands on the new chassis to begin development for the 2022/23 season. While we don’t know exactly what the other eleven teams in the championship are doing, we know Porsche has already got its chassis on the test track with its works driver Pascal Wehrlein.
The new Spark Racing Technologies-supplied chassis is set to be the lightest, fastest, and most powerful electric race car to ever hit the Formula E circuit. These new regulations allow Porsche to build a drivetrain that is more efficient and more powerful at the same time. The rear-mounted motor is now built to a maximum of around 470 horsepower, and the Gen 3 cars can now exceed 200 miles per hour in race trim. The car is a testbed for charging technology, as it can accept an ultra-high-speed charger rated at 600kW, which is more than twice as fast as what your Taycan can accept.
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E: “We took the first step towards Gen3 today, with the successful rollout on our test track at the development centre. I want to thank the team for their huge effort in making this possible. It was a lot of work technologically and operationally to get our new car out on the track for season 9 and to drive the first kilometres. We’re now looking forward to the next few days and weeks and to making further progress with the car. We’ll work on better aligning the systems and then the car’s performance.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver: “That was a very interesting day and an awesome experience to drive our new Gen3 car for the first time. It felt great and I’m excited to test it at full power soon. My initial impressions today were also very good and it made me hungry for more.”
Porsche has had a modicum of success in Formula E this year, including a convincing 1-2 victory in Mexico City. The motorsport division is known for taking its time and learning everything it can before really pouncing and finding a way to dominate. It’ll be a little harder for Porsche to dominate Formula E, given the incredibly close regulations favoring tight competition. As things start to open up in Gen 3, look for Porsche to find a way to develop some advantages over the competition.
Don’t forget that Porsche will actually have at least four cars on the grid this year, supplying powertrains and software to the Andretti team.