Today I caught Formula E racing on TV for the 2nd time. I'm not sure what to think of it

Pro's - It is racing, it will definitely push technology for electric vehicles, and it is racing

Con's - The sound of the cars is annoying as hell, The fact that they have to switch cars periodically for recharging for me defeats the purpose of a long race, pit stops are key part of racing and it seems to be significantly reduced.

Thoughts?

The should have replaceable battery packs.

You have to pit and swap batteries in a manner of taking on fuel.

Have a standard pack type and disconnect, so that the time is the same across the board to swap.

Everyone has same amount of storage, so if they consume more due to driving behavior, or car's performance, then it is similar to the use of carbon fuels.

This keeps the car setups the same and truer to endurance and drive-ability over the course of the race.

Otherwise, we might just start watching CGI racing.

Switching cars ? Lol. Could you imagine swapping cars at the Daytona 500 or Indy 500 mid race ? Weak.

When you get a chance, watch the movie "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen, who did his own driving and racing.
Opens a whole new world to appreciate.

PS: after reading some of the above comments: NASCAR is girlie stuff.
.

I have been a racing fan all my life and I would rather watch paint dry than watch Formula E.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The should have replaceable battery packs.

You have to pit and swap batteries in a manner of taking on fuel.

Have a standard pack type and disconnect, so that the time is the same across the board to swap.

Everyone has same amount of storage, so if they consume more due to driving behavior, or car's performance, then it is similar to the use of carbon fuels.

This keeps the car setups the same and truer to endurance and drive-ability over the course of the race.

Otherwise, we might just start watching CGI racing.

From an expert he knows!!

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The should have replaceable battery packs.

You have to pit and swap batteries in a manner of taking on fuel.

Have a standard pack type and disconnect, so that the time is the same across the board to swap.

I've always thought this, also. And it would be a great way for Tesla to get out there to test their battery swap tech in a real world application. As it is, I don't know if they have the battery swap stations, anymore.

Thinking next years cars have better batteries and different architecture. Should do away with jumping rides midrace.

Formula E has come a long way in a short time, but if electric race cars are good enough, why aren't they racing DAKAR?

Sorry. I want internal combustion. E cars....UGH.

Like it or not, it is clearly the way of the future. The internal combustion engine will soon be as obsolete as the steam engine in automotive applications. Human health demands this. We have reduced the amount of poisons that we each take in every day by about 90% since the early 70's, the next 90% will be far harder, and much more expensive to accomplish but we won't have a chance to get there unless there are radical changes to transportation technologies. I suspect that within 20 years, only the very rich will be able to afford to buy and operate an IC-powered vehicle. OTOH, I am not touching Tesla stock.

I actually kind of like Formula E, acceleration and aerodynamics fighting an energy budget appeals to my inner geek. What the heck, people just watch racing for the crashes anyway!

I dig the idea, but I agree with Sigmonkey, there needs a ‘refueling’ concept.

F1 > *
Next year they're going to new batteries in FE, able to do the entire race without the current car swap.
I'll take F1, F2, WEC & WRC over FE.

I am a true die-hard F-1 racing fan......just watched the Canadian GP(woo-woo for Ferrari). I tried to watch Formula E racing, but just can not get interested at all. I miss the screaming V-12, V-10, V-8 engines, but these V-6s with electric motors go fast!!

All I see Formula E on is city street courses which I mostly hate in any series. Some are kinda ok but passing is at a premium on all.
Put them on a track with actual racing and passing opportunities, maybe -- just maybe -- I'd watch.

Duh, refueling should be plugging in and letting the f-ing batteries recharge!

They remind me of my HO cars way back, Sound like crap even compared to the Buick with fart can F1 setups racing now.

Fromula E is terrible. The switching cars issue is absurd. I guess that just reinforces the "range anxiety" that electric car owners face.

Is this anything like 'E-Sports?'

I'm conflicted. After watching a couple, and I have them recording, it is genuine racing and I think it would be interesting on some different track styles. The sound is disorienting, and the pit swap is the most bizarre part of the racing.

Part of me hates the lack of any refueling or tire changes, but it just takes some of the points of strategy off the table and leaves it all up to the drivers and quali is critical.

I will say, the first one I watched was when I learned about Fan Boost. I'll copy the text I sent to a racing buddy below, his reply was "so, popularity contest? GHEY!"

quote:

Fanboost
For each race, fans can vote for their favourite driver via various social media channels to give them an extra power boost. Voting starts six days before the event and closes after the opening six minutes of the race. The three winning Fanboost drivers each receive an extra 100 kJ of energy to be used in a power window between 180 kW and 200 kW.[2]

Instead of replaceable charging packs how about they add reality to E-Vehicle use, when you run low you have to pull into the pits and recharge using 110v power generated by solar panels,

During "refueling" the driver will have to exit, take a dump, buy a cup of coffee, read the paper, shop a bit, maybe do some office work and can return to the track once it's charged.

If you run low on power on the track you could use one of the portable charging stations but they would activate the one just at the end of your range limit since finding one in the real world when you need it where you need it is difficult. These would be short timed quick charges to get you back to the pit, not full recharge.

Of course when they hit the quick charge station there would be someone there blocking access for a minute, kinda like a stop n go penalty for not making it back to the pits.

That would lead to drivers going slower to extend charge availability, drafting to reduce drag, like real life Pious drivers who block lanes in order to regenerate by slowing down etc that would be encouraged instead of DRS passing zones we'd have DRZ or designated regeneration zones...

The pace car would be a Pace Truck, Dodge 3500 dually with diesel, twin stacks and programmed to roll coal with the flip of a switch, making the starts interesting