London, Feb 24 (IANS) The international automobile federation (FIA) Tuesday revealed that eight manufacturers will enter the all-electric Formula E Championship in season two.
For the inaugural 2014-15 season, all 10 teams compete using identical single-seaters — the Spark-Renault SRT_01E — utilising a powertrain by McLaren Electronic Systems.
From the 2015-16 season, the series will become an open championship, allowing manufacturers to pursue their own in-house innovations, beginning with the development of bespoke powertrains.
In order to limit costs and promote investment and innovation, the manufacturers’ scope is initially limited to the powertrain — specifically the e-motor, inverter, gearbox and cooling system. All other parts on the cars will remain as they are with the aim being to prevent costly aerodynamic developments.
Following a tender process and in-depth analysis, FIA selected the following manufacturers: ABT Sportsline, Andretti, Mahindra, Motomatica, NEXTEV TCR, Renault Sport, Venturi Automobiles, Virgin Racing Engineering.
The next regulation progression, scheduled for season three, will see manufacturers extend their efforts to the batteries with the objective being the use of a single car per driver during races from the fifth season.
“The gradual opening up of the regulations will promote innovation while at the same time keeping costs under control. The solutions chosen by the manufacturers will hopefully lead to rapid development of the future-focused technologies at the heart of Formula E,” FIA president Jean Todt said.