Electric race cars that look like Formula 1, but are eerily quiet

I think this has a lot of promise, but I think they haven't quite dialed in the format.

I think they should focus on battery swapping as the way to deal with limited energy capacity. It makes for a nice spectacle watching pit crews do their thing. Swapping out an entire car and driver is just boring. Likewise the constraint to be able to swap the battery packs quickly will necessarily lead to the cars looking a bit different than F1. I think that also would be an improvement and help them differentiate as more than just "like F1 but more quiet and slow."

The ability to run events almost anywhere is a huge opportunity. It could make for some really compelling video footage in some awesome locations, if they can negotiate it.

Courses should focus on short sections and tight turns. Acceleration is where electric motors are most exciting, and keeping top speeds below the 200mph+ of F1 would let them run smaller events with less safety buffer space. Let people get up close and see the cars rocket out of each corner.

I went to the Formula E Grandprix in Berlin last year. I am a pretty big F1 fan, watching most of the races and know whats going on but Forumla-E was actually pretty bland and boring, i believe mostly due to missing any kind of engine noise. It kind of feels like very fast soapboxes racing around (not nearly as fast as F1 though).

This is in response to the video saying that the fans love the cars since they are almost quiet.

When I went to my first F1 grand prix, I could hear the sound of the cars from the parking lot. As a huge fan, that gave me goosebumps and got me excited. The sound is a huge plus, and all fans I know love it. Yeah you need to plug your ears when you are in the stands, but I would take that over the sound of these electric cars.

I went to the last season's final race in London. They are indeed significantly quieter than Formula 1 cars, but they're by no means silent. It's more of a not-uncomfortably-loud whining noise as the cars pass you.

Formula E has been pretty exciting to me since I first heard about it 2 years ago. I wonder if it will really ever become a mainstream event though - as Formula 1 and similar gradually involve more EV elements

Due to the relative quietness of the cars, the Formula E events usually involve background music, sometimes live from a DJ, usually electronic style music.

In the old horse days in Europe (and presumably everywhere else too) lots of very nice houses were built next to roads. Nowadays as I drive past I pity them and the ugly sound-deflecting fencing and berms they have to invest in to make them habitable. I look forward to quieter cars rejuvenating these old houses.

UPDATE: so my hopes are dashed :(

These cars just look like some kind of Formula cars but there are some of important differences: - first for now all cars are more or less the same (there's no research competition behind motors or aerodynamics like in WEC or F1) - the race rules are not so meaningful to me: changing cars in the middle of the race doesn't add to the fun, why not doing 2 shorter races? I see it as a minor low budget futurist racing series to exploit the "electric motors" trend in automotive.

Real investments go to WEC for technology or to F1 for PR and brand strength.

Things might change when teams will have the chance to customize their cars more (mainly motor, batteries)

Edit: they race in very nice locations anyway, that's the only cool thing about the series :p

Tangential, but I keep thinking that the moment EVs have finally "made" it will be when they can compete in endurance races like 24 Hours of Le Mans against IC vehicles.

The fact these Formula E races are considered quite enough to be run in populated areas is pretty sweet though. I've never attended a Motorsport event before, partly because I'd have to make a big effort to go out of town to watch any, instead of just staying local.

To answer the supposition at the end of the article, they're already working on driverless racecars. http://selfracingcars.com/

I couldn't really tell if that first kid liked cars or not. He certainly doesn't look that interested.

Here's how you get a kid to get interested in this kind of event. First, buy good earphones. Super important - it's incredibly loud. Next, go to a top fuel event.

If you are grown and haven't been to a top fuel drag race, I HIGHLY recommend you try it once. Once is enough to figure it out.

Are Formula E cars geared? Electric engines can deliver the same optimal torque throughout the RPM range, so is shifting involved? That's obviously an important part of the F1 drivers' skillset (especially during starts) so I'm curious if they just have work the brake and accelerator or also worry about gear changes.

I watched Formula E in Florida and it sounded like a race of blenders :)

I also watched Formula 1 and I loved the sound of the engines. You can tell by the sound what the top engines are. It is just a whole other experience. You hear the car coming before you see it and that gets you excited.

I'm probably biased, being a Formula 1 fan for over 25 years.

Cars are limited to just 200hp during races, and FIA has blocked the teams from innovating much. It's almost as if it pains them to have electric racers that they made them bad on purpose. These things accelerate slower than a tesla family SUV.

Quiet is not a great selling point. One of the big complaints in F1 right now is that the current spec engines are too quiet. The noise contributes hugely to the atmosphere and sense of speed.

It would be interesting to see this done with drag races. Those cars are loud!

I would call it refreshingly quiet. I am not a fan of loud ICE engines in any vehicle. I do worry about the quietness of these vehicles and sight impaired pedestrians and distracted pedestrians. I wonder if there will be an adjustment period where car-pedestrian impacts increase until cars are autonomous enough to stop for those who step in front of a car, and/ or pedestrians realized they cannot rely on their hearing to monitor traffic at crosswalks.