Formula E v Formula 1

[Andy B]

So here's a scenario for you F1 cars and FE cars on the same grid competing for the same prize the F1 World Championship!
This came to mind as I was reading about Moto E who will be running a championship this season of five races each of eight laps, which is not a lot, all of them in Europe with grids of 18 bikes.
So will the time come when electric can compete alongside the normal petrol powered competition? 

[lkjohnson1950]

Electric racers have the same problem street EVs do, storage. The batteries currently in use can't store enough juice. Another issue is weight, batteries, even relatively light ones like LIPO or LION are heavy. Formula E cars are heavy and can only make it to half distance in the races they run. EV companies have been expecting someone to make a break through in tech and hand them a lightweight, high capacity battery for years. It hasn't happened and seems less likely as time passes. Until it does, electric racers will not be competitive with IC racers.

[Monty]

I know that next year's Formula E cars will be able to complete a full race distance but in my opinion FE is like any of the lower tier series. It is good, but it just isn't F1.
I watched Formula E in Hong Kong. To be fair there was some bumping and bashing, some overtaking, a couple of breakdowns - but it certainly wasn't exciting.
The Road circuit was mickey mouse - some of the barriers moved during the race, some of the temporary kerbs lifted and disappeared. Car speeds were not that high and there was little noise apart from tyre squealing and the whine of electric motors.
I have to be honest and say that I was bored. I would rather go to a track and watch any of the 'lower tier' series such as F2, World Series Renault, Formula 4, etc. in preference. The difference is in the promotion. Somehow the Formula E promoters have hyped-up the image. There were big named drivers and a few Celebrities in the pits. I can't quite understand how this has happened because I saw nothing to suggest that anything FE offers is in any way better than the other race series mentioned.

[Jericoke]

I forsee a day when the electric race car becomes competitive with ICE race cars.  F1 does take steps towards that.  There will come a time when F1 becomes all electric. 

I'd like to see F1 deregulate their powertrain, let teams experiment with ICE and electric (or other energy storage!) systems.

[Monty]

I forsee a day when the electric race car becomes competitive with ICE race cars.  F1 does take steps towards that.  There will come a time when F1 becomes all electric.
I'd like to see F1 deregulate their powertrain, let teams experiment with ICE and electric (or other energy storage!) systems.

You are probably right about F1 cars not having ICE power in the future but I do not agree about deregulation. This would send the cost of F1 into levels that would exclude all but the richest teams.
Reluctantly, I understand why teams want cars to follow the trends of the road. Hybrid road cars are now common and so a hybrid F1 makes some sense. Pure EV is still a long way from being practical and personally I do not think EV cars will ever become the norm (it is unlikely that there will ever be an infrastructure that can support enough charge points for large numbers of EV cars plus the UK power generation system would literally crash if everyone plugged their car in for a charge at 8am or 6pm!). The most likely long term solution for road cars will be Hydrogen. Until then I hope F1 will keep a hybrid formula but with a bigger bias towards load and powerful ICE hearts.

[John S]

If Hydrogen is looking more and more likely as the green alternative to oil based car engines then shouldn't the new F1 engine regs allow them as an alternative .

F1 has always been good at pushing development faster than any other arena, save war of course.

Allowing hydrogen alongside petrol might well bring forward some new engine builders and possibly some new well funded teams.