Power gets a massive increase, from the current 470 hp (350 kW) to 804 hp (600 kW). That’s not far shy of next year’s F1 machines, which will generate 1,006 hp (750 kW), but only when their hybrid batteries are fully charged—run out of electrons and the F1 car has to make do with just 536 hp (400 kW).
Energy efficiency is a core tenet of Formula E racing, and that’s not being lost despite the big bump in output. We can still expect the cars to start the race with less energy than needed to get to the finish line, and the Gen4 car will be able to regenerate 700 kW under braking, up from the current 600 kW.
The chassis will still be made by Spark, but Williams Advanced Engineering will no longer provide batteries, which will instead come from the Italian supplier Podium Advanced Technologies. And Bridgestone will replace Hankook as the tire supplier. For the first time, there will even be high- and low-downforce configurations for the wings.
All of that should make for a car that lands somewhere between F1 and F2 or IndyCar in performance. The Formula E Gen4 car will still weigh as much as 20 percent more than an F1 car, and Bridgestone’s tires will still need to be durable enough to survive a race weekend, so F1’s ultimate cornering ability should be untouched. But more than 800 hp and AWD means the Gen4 car will be very quick out of slow corners—probably a lot faster than F1 even. I just hope they don’t get too big for Monaco in the process.
We’re yet to see any official images of the car, but it reportedly reached 210 mph (338 km/h) in testing last month in Spain. So far, Nissan, Jaguar, Porsche, Maserati, and Lola have committed to staying in the sport through Gen4.
