Can Formula E New Season Take Electric Racing Further Toward Mainstream?

Formula E is aiming to make its new season the best yet for the electric motor racing series. In the UK, season 8 is being marked by the announcement of a multi-year partnership with free-to-air terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 to host more races live than any previous season, taking over from the BBC. This will mean more regular broadcast spots than before, as the BBC presented most races online and via on-demand services. But the new season includes further tweaks alongside the greater live exposure that aim to make it more exciting than ever.

For a start, the eighth season also inaugurates a new, rather complicated but potentially very fun qualifying structure. This diverges from the conventional time trial format to become a four-stage process. The drivers are broken into two groups that do start off with a time trial, but then four drivers from each group move forward to head-to-head duels, then two semi-final duels and a final duel to win pole position. This promises to make qualifying an exciting spectacle before the race has even begun, but without the chaos of Formula 1’s controversial Sprint Qualifying.

Although last season saw the departure of Audi from Formula E as well as BMW and Mercedes, Porsche joined for the 2019/20 season and Maserati will be competing in 2023. The 2022-23 season already has DS, Jaguar, NIO and Nissan putting their brands behind the electric race series.

There’s a new Gen3 car making its debut for the 2022-23 season, too. The car will be lighter and smaller than the Gen2 but will be the first formula car to have motors on both front and rear – 250kW and 350kW respectively – which will more than double the regenerative capability compared to the Gen2, to 600kW. The FIA claims that at least 40% of the energy used in the race will now come from regenerative braking, and the car will therefore also be the first formula car without rear hydraulic braking. Power delivery will be 350kW (470bhp), providing a 200mph top speed, and the power-to-weight ratio will be twice as efficient as an equivalent fossil fuel engine.

After the travel limitations to the 2020-21 season due to Covid, Formula E will again start to expand its geographic reach. There will now be 16 races, up from 15 in 2021-22 and 13 in 2019-20. Although the new season still includes six “double headers” with two consecutive races at the same location, such as Saudi Arabia, New York and London, the previous season had seven double-header events, so this takes the series back in the right direction for locational diversity.

Formula E has come in for criticism for its choice of street circuits, however. While these tend to be more technical than pure race circuits, making them more challenging for driver skills and less dominated by sheer car superiority, this has had a negative impact on the competitive spectacle. The downsides are that street circuits tend to be harder to overtake on and are not the iconic tracks like Silverstone or Imola that already come steeped in history, which adds atmosphere.

But that hasn’t stopped viewers tuning in to watch, with a cumulative audience of 316 million across the 2020-21 season, up 32% over the previous year. This has been driven by new distribution agreements with free-to-air channels globally such as the new one with the UK’s Channel 4. The 2020-21 audience also exceeded pre-pandemic levels, showing the increasing interest in the sport.

Although Formula 1 remains the pinnacle of international motorsport achievement, its continuing focus on fossil fuel power is starting to look like a cul-de-sac. Its lack of consistent rules has also had a very negative effect on its image as truly competitive sport rather than empty spectacle. Formula E’s continuing development brings it closer than ever to becoming a viable alternative for motor racing fans. The Channel 4 partnership will hopefully give Formula E greater public visibility, so that alongside Extreme E the message of a sustainable future for high-speed competition on wheels can gain further traction.