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The future is here.
Formula E is all set for first season for 2014.
10 races ,10 teams.
One of signed teams Adretti motorsports.
April 21 race on streets of Los Angeles.
Will go check it out.
Cars look like baby
Indycars(not the prettiest cars).
200kw ,eq, 275 bhp.
145 mph speed. 0to 60 in 3 sec.
should be interesting to watch these cars running thru downtown.
Check out their web site for more info.
cheers.
Semi-open wheel. Seems to be a trend... on second thought, looks more like a SR with some missing body work ;) can't blame 'em, I guess... certainly safer with potentially fewer repairs. I hope it goes well. OTOH... changing from Kents to Fits, Pintos to Zetecs is one thing. Is retrofitting to batteries & motors next ? Yikes !!! :)
Well, there goes the neighborhood....
Really hoping to be involved with this. Sounds like fun.
Sorry-I have to say-yet another class of open wheel cars. I hope that this is a class to replace another and not a new edition. Pretty soon it will be like a stroll down the breakfast cereal aisle. So many choices.
Bob, this is a professional series that won't compete at or with SCCA. Besides they will race at venues where no other racing series can race. I don't think they'll detract from other open wheel classes/series at all :)
Humor disclaimer. ... I'm with Bob ;) FAR too many classes... personally, I'd like to see them run as a support series to Indy or F1... OTOH, I suppose they're going after the new 'green' racing fans &, god forbid, they should show up at a 'fossil fueled' event :)
To put all boiling minds at ease.
This is a professional formula championship owned and created by Spaniard billionaire
and is geared to promote electric cars to make air in our cities breathable again.
Races will take place strictly on closed inner city (mostly downtowns)circuits (not race tracks).
whole point is to make electric cars cool for general public.
If anything open wheel community should feel flattered that from all forms of motor racing open wheel formulas has been chosen to promote electric cars as cool to public.
Therefore pointing out formula racing as pinnacle of cool race cars.
Also with ten years time batteries will get smaller and lighter and more powerful.
Hopefully bringing costs down to club and regional levels.
And think of immense torque of electric motor coming out of turns.
HP and torque curves are almost identical.
electric motor properly developed has limitless possibilities for racing application.
Unless you thing that dieing from lung cancer while racing gasoline powered cars is still cool i would put effort in embracing potential clean alternative of racing.
Come on guys at the end of the day it's not like replacing rubber with rail wheels..lol
Will still get to burn it.
Budgets are set at capped 2.4 mil euros per year.
cheers.
That's all good... so, every pit spot / paddock space Will have DC fast chargers ;) So, do I want to 'burn' or get 'fried' ? Hmmm... I still love the smell of gasoline in the morning. The smell of victory ! Just kidding. Looks like good fun. Hope it's televised somewhere :)
Unfortunately for now you'll change cars in the paddock.
Le mans style.
I did not realize that they were electric. Maybe it will draw new spectators. I was concerned that we would be diluting any remaining open wheel racing fan base,
Just out of interest, but what technology is used to generate the electrons that these cars feed on? Nuclear plants, coal and natural gas burning plants??? No opportunities for pollution or cancer there, eh?
And what is the plan for dealing with all of these toxic used batteries in the future? Put them in landfills? Send them to China to be"recycled"...I am sure that they are perfectly safe in our ground water... You take the first sip.
Don't get me wrong, I applaud the development of new tech, but I get a little tired of the sanctimonious demonization of internal combustion by people who conveniently avoid inconvenient facts.
Sean
Lithium in the ground water makes one happy ;) It is interesting how the adds for electric cars give the impression that they cost nothing to operate... and just how long do those batteries last until they need replacement... and what does that cost ? Has anyone actually calculated the actual cost per mile to run these cars for 200k miles with depreciation & maintenance ? Repair costs ? What happens in a serious crash ? Electrocution ? Chemical poisoning ? Risks to rescue personnel ?
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Sean Maisey
Thank you, that's been my stance on this whole electric car business since day 1. Especially when these people with their Chevy Volt's get on their high horse about saving the environment, yadda yadda yadda.
So, when you plug your volt into the wall, where is that power coming from? The dirty coal fired powerplant down the road? The look on their faces is priceless. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Velkoff
I initially thought that it had to be cleaner to have a plug in than burn your own fuel, based off efficiencies alone. Turns out that is mostly correct. Although I was a bit surprised to find out that in a few states (the dirtiest states in terms of electricity production) a plug in is about the same as a 34mpg gasoline based vehicle mile for mile in terms of emissions. In the cleaner states, there is no comparison however.
Who knows how that will change as usage ramps up, but that's where it stands at the moment.
Electric cars make more sense in some places than others. In BC for instance, 90% of our electricity comes from hydroelectric. Which is also why our electricity costs 6 cents per kW or whatever it is. An electric car would make a lot of sense up here. In a city where electricity comes from coal, maybe not as much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Velkoff
Personally, being a racer and a geek, I can't wait until there's more of them. Full torque from zero to full speed? Good enough for me.
(I don't own an electric car. I own several very fuel inefficient cars.. I ride a "homemade" electric bike to work that gets me there faster than a car or transit would, for 3 cents a day - so maybe that's where my bias comes from)
We dummies here in the USA are dismantling hydroelectric dams... go figure... Everyone of our locks & dams could be generating electricity.... even old fashioned water wheels could be in use... I'd love an Electric car IF it were cost effective & had a Real range of 200 + miles. Here's a thought to ponder... we know electric motors are very efficient at low speed, yet really use up the batteries at high speed. Can't we use a tranny of sorts to keep the rpms down, like piston power, to extend highway cruising miles ? Or... diesel electrics like locomotives ? I'd love an Electric Formula car that would earnestly run hard for thirty minutes. Something like FC/E !!!
I think electric cars make the most sense if you can charge them with solar power. We "commute" in an NEV (glorified golf cart) that we charge with at our shop where we have nearly 100% of our energy needs met by solar panels.
If I could race on Solar Power that would be ideal -- lots of sunlight here.
Thats great Dave, but how long is your comute ?? few hundred yards ? :D
Volvo, Saab, and Porsche have all demonstrated that the exhaust gas from their cars is cleaner than the air going in while driving through LA. Saab even demonstrated that their exhaust was unaffected by the exhaust of an old 2 stroke Saab plumbed into the airbox of a new one.
Solar? 1 kW*hr per square meter of panel is the most you will ever get. The cost and service life of current systems is such that you will never break even.
The power to weight ratio of battery+motor propulsion is much worse than gasoline+engine. So is the range. As it turns out, it's really hard to beat gasoline. That is exactly why it's conventional.
As a matter of fact, someone, perhaps Volvo, drove their car thru L.A. & the air out the tailpipe was considerably cleaner than the air going in. They also had a catalytic coating on the radiator to clean up more of the L.A. air :)
Actually, motors use more current with higher loading. An unloaded motor at high speed uses less current than the same motor loaded at any speed. While motors can be designed with efficiencies at different speeds, in a car the load is air and rolling resistance. Running the motor at a lower rpm is not going to change that or the power required to overcome it.Quote:
we know electric motors are very efficient at low speed, yet really use up the batteries at high speed
That explains that. Thx
If you had to be stuck in a tight space (say like a garage) with a running vehicle, would you pick that super clean Volvo, or an electric car? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by racerdad2
Less pollutants, sure.. But not less CO2
Depends, if I were a plant I'd prefer your CO2 spitting Volvo, but I suspect you meant CO;)Quote:
If you had to be stuck in a tight space (say like a garage) with a running vehicle, would you pick that super clean Volvo, or an electric car? :)
Less pollutants, sure.. But not less CO2
Less pollutants maybe... Anytime you are converting one form of energy to another there is going to be a loss. If the electric is from one of the dirtier forms of electric generation there will be a fair amount of pollution, we just need the output piped into your garage:(