Formula E’s 11th season starts on Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and includes the debut of the new Gen3 EVO car – which iterates on the original Gen3 car by activating the front motor, giving more grip and even faster acceleration than a Formula One car.
Formula E is the FIA’s top-level electric racing series, racing single-seater open-wheel formula cars on famous racetracks and in downtown city centers – where quieter, zero-emission cars can get away with things that noisy gassers cannot.
It’s now on its eleventh season, and there’s been plenty of excitement and unpredictability throughout. The series has remained competitive, with championship battles often coming down to the last race with multiple drivers and teams vying for the win – unlike F1, where championship battles are often decided midway through the season.
And Formula E has been iterating on its vehicles pretty rapidly, with changes every couple years adding new capabilities and making the cars faster.
Early Formula E seasons started with a much less powerful vehicle, and drivers would even swap vehicles mid-race (battery swapping was deemed too complicated, so they just swapped cars instead).
In 2018, Formula E introduced the Gen 2 car which was more powerful and no longer needed to swap mid-race. Then in 2022, the Gen 3 car started racing, with the addition of a front motor to be used for stronger regenerative braking.
On the original iteration of the Gen 3 car, the front motor wasn’t active during acceleration – but that’s changing now, as the modified Gen 3 EVO car will be able to use the front motor during qualifying, race starts, and during “attack mode,” a short boost in power that drivers can activate during the race to gain an advantage. So, technically, this means these cars are going to be all-wheel drive, at least some of the time.
All-wheel drive has been popular on road cars recently, because it enhances acceleration and drivability. And on EVs, it’s quite easy to add, because you can just slap a second motor on the other axle and run a few cables to it, rather than needing to run driveshafts and gearing mechanisms all through your car to transfer the power from a single combustion engine to two separate axles.
However, sportscar and racing enthusiasts have often preferred rear-wheel drive because it makes cars more squirrelly and difficult to control, showcasing driver skill more readily.
So this is a pretty big change – single seat open-wheel racing has historically been all rear-wheel drive with few driver aids involved. There have been a few all-wheel drive cars tried in the past, but currently other open-wheel single seaters (like F1, IndyCar and the like) are rear-wheel drive only.
Another big change for this year is in the tires, which will be grippier than last season. The Gen 3 car originally didn’t improve laptimes as much as expected, likely due to a change in tire supplier, and this year’s tires promise to be more capable of handling the car’s higher power output.
Further, we might finally see the debut of the “attack charge” mid-race charging feature. Along with the introduction of a front motor, Gen3 brought 600kW charging capability. This was mostly used for better regenerative braking, but Formula E also said it wanted to introduce a mid-race 600kW charge.
But introduction of that feature got pushed back multiple times, so now, even if Formula E says it’s ready to introduce it – we’ll believe it when it happens. It was tested at pre-season testing in Spain last month, so that’s one step done at least.
If it does get introduced this year, it will likely be at a double-header race, with one race using the mid-race charge system, and the other not.
The new season comes along with changes in drivers and teams, as they often do. Lola cars has taken over the ABT team, running a racing team for the first time since 1997 now alongside Yamaha, and last season’s ERT team has rebranded as Cupra Kiro. Maserati committed to return – and has committed to the entirety of the future Gen4 era, through 2030.
Drivers have shifted around from team to team, with two new rookie drivers joining the grid – Zane Maloney who joins the Lola team after previously racing in Formula 2, and Taylor Barnard who drove 3 races last year for McLaren but now starts the season as a full-time driver.
Tracks have changed as well, with the retirement of the Misano ePrix, meaning no more races in Italy. Saudi Arabia, which previously hosted several season openers at the Riyadh street circuit, will move its races to a new street circuit in Jeddah. The Portland ePrix (which was great the last couple years) is going away, being replaced by the Miami ePrix – which was previously held in 2015, though now will happen at the Homestead-Miami speedway NASCAR track, instead of the previous Miami street circuit along Biscayne Bay. The headline Monaco ePrix, at the world-famous Circuit de Monaco, will become a doubleheader for the first time, with two races on the same weekend. And the Jakarta ePrix is back, after being skipped in 2024.
This weekend’s race is at the Sao Paulo street circuit, which has hosted Formula E twice before. Since Formula E seasons start just before the end of the year and the Sao Paulo ePrix was scheduled from mid-season to the season opener, we’re now getting a second 2024 Sao Paulo ePrix – the last of which was won by Sam Bird. The 2023 race was won by Mitch Evans.
The circuit goes along the city’s Carnival route, with a long back straight interrupted by one chicane, and a return to the start/finish line through some side streets with tight turns. The long straights should offer good opportunities for overtaking, but also add to difficulty in energy management for the teams.
The race starts this Saturday, December 7, at 2pm local Sao Paulo time. That’s Noon Eastern time, 9am Pacific time, and 5pm UTC. You can check out how to watch the race in your area by going to Formula E’s “Ways to Watch” section. In the US, Roku should be the most reliable way to watch.
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