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Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater auto racing championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars. The inaugural championship race was held in Beijing in September 2014. Since 2020, the series has had FIA world championship status.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season consists of a series of races, each known as an ePrix. These take place in multiple countries and continents around the world, mostly on street circuits created specifically for Formula E on closed public roads in the centre of major cities, with a small number on purpose-built circuits such as Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. A points system is used at each ePrix to determine two annual World Championships: one for the drivers, and one for the constructors (the teams). Each driver must hold a valid e-Licence issued by the FIA to compete.
Formula E cars are the fastest regulated electric road-course racing cars in the world. Major changes made for the 2022–23 season in the development of the Gen3 car were delivered as software updates directly to the advanced operating system built into the car. The estimated top speed is 322 km/h (200 mph). The battery is also designed to be able to handle "flash-charging" at rates of up to 600 kW, allowing pitstop recharging into the championship for the first time. The wheelbase has been reduced from 3100 mm to 2970 mm and the weight reduced to 760 kg.
Formula E shareholders include Selim Fouad and Warner Bros. Discovery. As of 2024, Formula E’s founder and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag is the company’s Chairman, and the Chief Executive Officer is Jeff Dodds.
Since the 2020–21 season, Formula E is an FIA World Championship, making it the first single-seater racing series outside of Formula One to be given world championship status.
A feature called 'Attack Charge' is expected to be introduced no earlier than Season 11, where the drivers will come into the pits to service a mandatory 30 second pit stop that will charge the batteries, and add 4 kWh of energy to them, which will also unlock two enhanced Attack Mode boosts. In the race, the maximum power output of the cars is currently restricted to 300 kW (402 bhp).
Since the all-weather tyres are designed to last for a whole race, pit stops are only needed to change a punctured tyre or perform repairs on the car.
For season 6 and 7, for each minute spent under safety car or FCY, 1 kW⋅h of energy was removed from the total usable energy, giving drivers and teams more energy management tactics. In Season 8, a newly introduced 'added time' format was used, where every full minute under a safety car or full course yellow within the first 40 minutes, 45 seconds was added to the race time up to a maximum of 10 minutes, before the 'added lap' format that is currently used replaced the 'added time' format in Season 9.
In the 2020–21 season, the Puebla ePrix and Valencia ePrix were held on configurations comparable to their full-length configurations, being 381 m (by skipping the International Road Course' leftmost corners) and 629 m (by skipping turns 9 through 12 of the Grand Prix Circuit) shorter respectively.
The first-ever Formula E race held on a full-length racetrack configuration of a circuit designed for other racing leagues, or in fact a longer one than the main configuration, was the 2023 Portland ePrix at the Portland International Raceway.
In the 2019–20 season, Tempelhof hosted the first race held on a reverse configuration of a track's main layout in Formula E (previous examples in other racing leagues included IndyCar's Museum Park in Miami in 1995, and Circuit Zandvoort in the 1958 Tulip Rally).
The Attack Mode format was changed up for Season 9, as instead of a constantly changing number of times the drivers had to drive through the activation zone during the race, and also the changing amount of time that each Attack Mode period lasted, the drivers would now get a combined 4 minutes of Attack Mode to use, that would be used in 2 activation periods throughout the race. During the first activation period, drivers would have to choose their Attack Mode activation time 'strategy', where they could either pick from having 2 2-minute attack mode periods, a 1-minute to start and then a 3-minute period, or vice versa. From the 2023 Jakarta ePrix, it was lengthened to a combined 8 minutes that could be deployed in 2 minutes and then 6 minutes or vice versa or 2 4-minute periods.
After more than two years after the initial announcement of the feature, now known as Pit Boost, will make its debut at the 2025 Jeddah ePrix. In Pit Boost races, all drivers will be required to do a mandatory 30-second stop to recharge the car's batteries at 600 kW, and give the drivers an extra 3.85 kWh of energy (around 10% additional energy) to use throughout the rest of the race. This pitstop will have to be taken in a certain window in the race, chosen by the race officials prior to the event. No other work on the cars is allowed to be carried out during the quick-charging pitstops, and only one car per team is allowed to take the stop at a time.
This first Formula E car had a power of at least . The car was able to accelerate from in 3 seconds, with a maximum speed of . The generators used to re-charge the batteries are powered by glycerol, a by-product of bio-diesel production.
In the first season, all teams used an electric motor developed by McLaren (the same as that used in its P1 supercar). But since the second season, powertrain manufacturers could build their own electric motor, inverter, gearbox and cooling system although the chassis and battery stayed the same. There were nine manufacturers creating powertrains for the 2016–17 season: ABT Schaeffler, Andretti Technologies, DS-Virgin, Jaguar, Mahindra Racing, NextEV TCR, Penske, Renault, and Venturi.
The estimated top speed is 322 km/h (200 mph). The battery is also designed to be able to handle "ultra-fast charging" at rates of up to 600 kW, allowing pitstop recharging into the championship for the first time. The wheelbase has been reduced from 3100 mm to 2970 mm and the weight reduced to 760 kg.
Spark Racing Technology builds the chassis and supplies the front axle MGU, Williams Advanced Engineering supplies the battery, and Hankook supplies all-weather tyres incorporating bio-material and sustainable rubber.
Teams and manufacturers are already expressing interest in the Gen4 era, with the idea that many of the current championship teams will sign for all four years. Jaguar Racing is advancing in the field of Gen4 cars with by setting up a specialised Mechatronics unit under the supervision of Muin Ahmad, who recently lead the development of twin battery system of Formula E Cars.
| +Comparison of Formula E car generations ! ! Gen1 ! Gen2 ! Gen3 |
The first Formula E race at the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit on 13 September 2014 was won by Lucas Di Grassi, after Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost crashed out on the final corner. In the course of the season, there were 7 different race winners: Sébastien Buemi (three times), Sam Bird (twice), Nelson Piquet Jr. (twice), António Félix da Costa, Nicolas Prost, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Lucas Di Grassi. The championship was decided with the last race in London, where Nelson Piquet Jr. became the first Formula E champion, only a single point ahead of Sébastien Buemi. Piquet, Buemi, and Di Grassi all had a theoretical chance at winning the title in the final round. The team championship was decided on the second to last race, with e.dams Renault (232 points) winning ahead of Dragon Racing (171 points) who surpassed ABT in the final round of the championship.
After a difficult first half of the season, Audi Abt Sportsline improved in the second half and passed Techeetah at the final race to claim the teams' championship by two points.
The 2019 Hong Kong ePrix was the 50th race of Formula E since its inception in 2014. Formula E raced in 20 cities, across five continents, seen 13 global manufactures commit to the series. Four drivers have started all 50 Formula E races: Lucas di Grassi, Sam Bird, Daniel Abt and Jérôme d'Ambrosio.
After the first race in New York City, Jean-Eric Vergne won his second Formula E championship, becoming the first driver to win more than 1 championship title, and a back-to-back championship title. Techeetah won their first constructor's championship.
The season's champion was António Félix da Costa who clinched his first title with two races left. Techeetah became team champions for the second time in a row.
In late 2020, Audi and BMW announced their withdrawal from Formula E after the 2020–21 season, although BMW and Audi allowed Andretti Autosport and Envision Racing respectively to continue using their powertrains during the 2021–22 season.
The season ended in August 2021 with 15 races. Nyck de Vries claimed his first world champion title after winning two races, while Mercedes-EQ won the teams' championship.
Instead of removing usable energy from drivers under the safety car and FCY, there will be added time to the race. For every full minute the race is neutralized within the first 40 minutes, there is 45 seconds of added time. This can add up to a maximum of 10 minutes.
Race power was also increased to 220 kW and attack mode was increased to 250 kW, matching the power from Fanboost.
Season 8 also introduced a new qualifying format, featuring 2 groups, A and B, where the top 4 in each would progress to duels. Stoffel Vandoorne won the Drivers title, whilst Mercedes EQ won the teams championship for the second time in a row.
Pit stops were originally also supposed to make a return to the series (in the form of Attack Charge) which was set to be trialed at select races, however the introduction of this race format was delayed to the 2023–24 season and beyond, after several issues with the new car's batteries came up before the season, which caused delays in the production of the fast chargers.
Originally also, in at least two races, each team would have to field a driver with no previous Formula E experience in the first practice session. However, after teams criticized this rule, the series then decided that instead as a compromise, they would hold two rookie test sessions, one being after the doubleheader Berlin ePrix, and the other being before the doubleheader Rome ePrix.
The drivers' championship was won by Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti Formula E), and the teams' championship was won by Envision Racing.
The calendar Season 10 was announced in November 2023, featuring new venues Misano, Shanghai, and a world-first race held in the streets of Tokyo, Japan, with Portland expanding to a double-header.
Attack Charge was scheduled to be introduced starting at the Misano ePrix. This new feature would have seen drivers take a mandatory pit stop in a specific window during the race, during which the car would have been recharged to award drivers two attack mode boosts and an extra of energy throughout the rest of the race. This feature was originally planned to be introduced in season 9, but after delays in production of the fast charging units it was postponed until season 10. This timeframe was then delayed once again, with the feature postponed to season 11.
The Drivers' Championship was won by Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche Formula E Team), the Teams' Championship was won by Jaguar Racing, and the Manufacturers' Trophy was won by Jaguar Cars.
The calendar of Season 11 features new venues in Jeddah and Miami, and the return of the Jakarta ePrix, with Monaco and Tokyo expanding to double-headers.
After multiple postponements, the fast charge feature now known as Pit Boost was introduced in Jeddah.
Nicki Shields will anchor Formula E's English Language Programming for Season 11, alongside tenacious racing driver Billy Monger, rally driver Catie Munnings, and an expert lineup which will include David Coulthard, Karun Chandhok, Andre Lotterer, James Rossiter, and Allan McNish for Season 11. Alexa Rendell, and Saunders-Carmichael Brown will serve as pit lane reporters.
The first round in Brazil also featured Ben Edwards. It is currently unknown if he will be presenting in future sessions and rounds.
Formula E debuted its own documentary series, called 'Unplugged' on 22 November 2021, which was similar to Formula One's Netflix series. The series gave a behind-the-scenes look on every driver’s journey through the 2020–21 season. Unplugged returned for a second season in March 2023, showcasing the 2021–22 season, and for a third season in January 2024 showcasing the 2022–23 season.
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