GO.

Blazing into the 2023 Cape Town E-Prix at a top speed of 322km/h, the Gen3 is the fastest, most efficient Formula E car yet

- Lisa Abdellah

THE HEADLINE FEATURE OF THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED NEW GEN3 CAR FOR THE 2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is how fast it accelerates down the straights. Th e lessons learned by the technical team over eight years of electric racing have culminated in the world’s fastest, lightest, most powerful and most efficient electric race car ever built, which has 350kW of power and is capable of a lively 320km/h and regenerating a staggering 600kWh of energy.

It’s a one-series design, meaning a team led by Alessandra Ciliberti, the Technical Manager for the championship at the FIA, has developed parts of the car, including its chassis, battery, front powertrain kit (FPK) and tyres, standardised components automakers aren’t allowed to change, encouraging them to focus their eff orts on producing road-relevant EV technologies that meet the difficult tradeoff between performance and reliability.

What does this mean for drivers and manufacturers racing in Formula E?

MORE POWER

Electric motors are substantially more efficient than internal combustion engines (ICES), as they can convert around 95% of the electrical energy into mechanical energy (motion) compared to approximately 40% for ICES.

Regenerative braking produces almost 50% of the energy used within a race. The FPK's function is the opposite of the powertrain at the rear, meaning that instead of transferring power to the wheels, it recovers the vehicle's kinetic energy under braking. The new front powertrain adds 250kW to the 350kW at the rear, more than doubling the regenerative capability of the former Gen2 car to a total of 600kW, enabling it to go faster for longer when the driver accelerates later.