F1? No, it's Formula E as electric racing cars hit the track

Re: It also may lead to more efficient motors

No, it may not. Electric motors are pretty much lossless already. And no, that's not because huge efforts have been poured into their development, it's because electricity is something called "free energy" (well pretty close anyway). Google it.

Re: Battery Times

Sadly electric motors and batteries are all up on the 90% plus efficiency range.

What is missing is a high energy density battery, and those are already approaching the limits of lithium, and lithium is, in the periodic table, the best element there is.

Even lithium air, where at least some of the weight is in the atmosphere to begin with, is only just able to match a tank of hydrocarbon fuel.

And the technology is massively difficult to deploy.

Storing electrical energy efficiently and without a weight penalty is a huge problem which if we could crack it, would transform a lot of things.

Aircraft for example, only fly because of the energy density of hydrocarbon fuel...

Motor racing is a NON CONTACT SPORT.

You've not seen Anthony Reid drive[1], then?

Already we have drivers who grew up with that heap of crap that is BTCC crashing in to each other because they think its OK

I caught the tail end of a Touring Car race on telly the other day - it appears that the BTCC are clamping down on contact. Which is as it should be - it's supposed to be a demonstration of skill, not a test of armour...

"it was OK in BTCC so I thought it was OK in FFord"

Thankfully, open-wheel contact is usually expensive[2] enough that drivers tend to avoid it long before they get to the super-high speeds where they might consider it profitable

Vic

[1] Particularly when there are flint walls around.

[2] I caught up with an old friend the other day - he rented out his Jedi this year. The bloke that rented it crashed on his first race, taking the car out for the rest of the season while it had a £14K rebuild...

"Motor racing is a NON CONTACT SPORT."

Says who? You?

"It much too fecking dangerous for it to be anything else"

Oh well, I guess banger racing should be banned immediately then!

"that heap of crap that is BTCC"

You mean that heap of crap that actually has proper racing rather than cars following each other round in a tedious procession with passing only done in the first 10 seconds from the start and during pit stops? If I want to watch a train I'll go to a station.

"OK in FFord"

Formula Ford? What a fucking joke. Go karts with a flash paint job.

Well you could argue that F1 is perceived as dull due to the disparity of the cars meaning that it is less down to driver skill and more down to team finances.

Anyway this is the 1st year. Car differences will largely be restricted to aerodynamic tweaks, althogh I can see energy management being a big factor. The next year, rules will be relaxed allowing for more differentiation in the various cars.

Benefits from racing..

I can only half agree that its a waste of time.

What will filter through into road uses eventually will be batteries that can be fast charged and discharged, better energy recovery systems and ultimately better batteries.

Two things stand between now and widespread adoption of electric road cars, range and cost.

Range will always be a problem with BEVs as even the theoretical best energy density of lithium ion simply isn't good enough and lithium air is so early in the development stage its uncertain as to whether a safe cheap battery will ever be made using that technology.

Cost should come down as production engineering gets under way. Lithium is not expensive nor any of the materials involved and they are more or less recyclable. So te gig issue is range and how that can be extended by energy recovery and as good as it gets battery design and also by developments into faster charging.

Right now the majority of road trips are short and a BEV should make an ideal 'second car' for those that can organise off street charging. Overnight charging at 3KW levels - or more with an adapted circuit - is enough for about 100 miles/day or a potential 35,000 miles a year car.

Personally if a BEV was economic lifetime wise over a fuel car I'd get one for the shorter trips. The performance is JUST good enough for that: What holds me back is cost.

"I think they've had ample bloody chance, given that the earliest semi-practical electric cars date back to the same years as the earliest semi-practical ICE vehicles, between 1880 and 1890."

Yes, and they've had over a 100 years of highly competitive development, just like petrol engines, making your comparison completely legitimate and fair. Or.... not.

"I'm not sure how road car technology will be enhanced by having a dull race* between identical ultra-light non-road electric cars"

The article did state that this year the cars were single-marque, but that was likely to change. As it moves towards a multi-marque series the development will come, just as it does in every other top-flight Formula.

"with 130 years of battery development still not offering much benefit"

Oh, so Li-ion doesn't have an energy density 5 times higher than lead-acid or nickel-cadmium, then; more than doubling in capacity in the last 20 years. It's come quite a long way.

"I can't see that a token bit of pretend racing will do anything."

If you think it's 'pretend' because you don't need ear defenders and every driver is competing in an equal vehicle, then you're clearly not much of a motorsport fan. The only 'pretend' racing I've seen is celebrities 'racing' their Ferraris. Your opinion of the Series is about as useful as mine on the England kickball squad.

How does not making noise have a bearing on the quality of racing?

"They'd be better off instead of spending the money custom building some undoubtedly expensive F1 lookalikes putting the money into fundamental research by blokes in white coats."

They don't look anything like F1 cars any more than spitfires look like DH Mosquitos. They look like single-seater Formula cars and that's about where the similarities end.

"Formula 1 is dull enough already - imagine it with quieter, slower cars with lower endurance."

So... you really are commenting on a relative to a sport that you are already utterly uninterested in.