Lightning on wheels: the insane electric racing of Formula E | Hacker News Reader

Lightning on wheels: the insane electric racing of Formula E

theverge.com

40 pointsYhippa19 comments

Love EVs and have been following Formula E since the beginning.

I want to see so much initial torque drivers have to wear G Suits!

The "initial torque" is not really a problem with sufficiently powerful contemporary electric vehicles (the whole electric motor thing of "maximum torque at zero rpm" gives you that for free). The G forces are still limited by tire/road traction and friction coefficients - even top fuel dragsters with _way_ too much power, rubber heating burnouts, VHT TrackBite, and perfectly groomed launch pads – barely hit 5G sustained.

Thanks for the break down! I had an early EV and loved that initial kick. Always fascinating to know the specifics behind what's going on.

Can we not just have no-holds-barred electric car races with remote drivers or even autonomous vehicles? You could remove most of the safety features besides those protecting the crowd and engineers. Imagine the cornering.

If remote perhaps latency would be a problem at high speeds?

This already exists: RC cars. The only difference would be 1:1 scale instead of 1:10.

Without a driver in the car much of the drama would be removed, no drama === fewer viewers and less sponsorship.

You or might love such a racing series but Joe Bloggs likely wouldn't.

The worst race I ever watched was a ebike race that happened before a MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. Those bikes sound lame as do all electric vehicles. There's nothing like a high HP MotoGP bike or Formula One car. Long live combustion engines!

Interestingly, I feel kinda the same sometimes about MotoGP and Moto2/3 bikes - they sound different to the 2 stroke 500s and 250/125s that were the soundtrack to top level motorcycle racing for most of my life. That doesn't make them "lame" really, it's as least as much about me being old...

I saw the first ever TTXGP race in the US at Sears Point a few years back, and yeah - they sounded "wrong" to my ears (and an interesting comment from a friends wife: "They sound like a herd of angry power tools!")

I suspect in 20 years time the equivalent of teenaged "petrol heads" will think that's what race bikes/cars sound like, and will be restoring vintage 100MPH+ Teslas in their sheds just like people restore 70's V* muscle cars today.

Vive la change :-)

Long live the steam engine too!

That remark in combination with its parent made me imagine what formula 1 with steam engines would look like. Steam engines can provide lots of torque at low speed, so they should be able to accelerate reasonably fast from zero speed when using a high-tech, low weight boiler. Top speed would not be that high, though, due to the inefficiency of steam engines.

It also could be quite a bit on the too dangerous side due to exploding boilers.

You're thinking about this the wrong way...use them the way they are supposed to be used: drive turbines with them.

Steam engines, treated as powerplants, are actually remarkably efficient.

Yep.

There's a reason why fossil fuel power generation is mainly steam turbine based.

There are other problems with steam turbines, however. The efficiency band can be relatively small, and it doesn't change power levels particularly quickly.

steam generators are also used in nuclear power plants.

I agree. I watched the first Formula E race and didn't think much of it. The really interesting work is with the current F1 hybrid power units. I will be surprised if Formula E ends up as anything more than a side show like GP2 F3000.

Yes, the sound just isn't the same. I'm excited for new tech and the physics are cool but the sound and chaos of ICE vehicles is just special and hard to beat.

This is the first time I've heard of it and I'm actually pretty happy it's happening. It'll help boost the popularity of racing and EV's at the same time. Win-win all around.

I had heard it was happening but nothing more, and after this article I looked around and found race footage to jump around in and get a feel for what it's like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJZS0QhPmhs

It seems like the race has similar energy but definitely a different sound than F1, and the whole battery life/pit dynamics add something interesting.

It definitely feels like the future of racing.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Electric World Rally Championship.

Electric WRC would definitely be fun!

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