Electric Vehicle Racing

McLaren has announced that it will supply and build the motors, transmissions and electronics for the 2014 Formula E season. FIA World Championship Formula E features solely electric powered cars, with races taking place in metropolitan centers around the globe. The support of the major motorsport name is likely to significantly boost the new championship's image.  Read More

Before he ever began work on the thrilling Rimac Concept_One electric supercar, Rimac Automobili founder Mate Rimac converted an old BMW E30 to an electric speed demon. The decades-old car, fondly nicknamed the "green monster" but more formally known as the e-M3, was recently awarded several electric vehicle world records.  Read More

For the past 14 years, teams of engineering students from around the world have pitted their custom-built race cars against one another, at the Formula Student competition in the UK. This year’s event, which took place once again at the Silverstone Racing Circuit, saw a milestone in the event’s history – it was the first time that a hydrogen-powered car raced against petrol-burning competitors. The car was the Forze V, from The Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology, and it actually did pretty well ... out of a total of over 100 vehicles, it ended up tied for 29th place last Saturday.  Read More

Despite the coming of the electric vehicle during the last decade, there were far more electric vehicle manufacturers in the world 100 years ago than there are today. Hundreds of manufacturers, a large proportion of them electric, competed in the fledgling automotive marketplace. This competition drove these manufacturers to seek new and novel ways to seek publicity, and when a French Automobile magazine ran top speed trials in December 1898, it sparked a flurry of record attempts and six land speed records in just four months. The electric Jamais Contente, which was the first purpose-built speed record attempt car, prevailed in this early tussle by raising the land speed record to 105.878 km/h (65.79 mph) in April 1899.  Read More

Electric motorcycle racing became a lot more interesting today when the TT Zero race at the Isle of Man was run and the top three riders all finished at average speeds of more than 100 mph. The win went to the Segway MotoCzysz team with Michael Rutter producing a lap of 104.56 mph but the extra strong showing of a 102.215 mph lap on the Mugen (Honda) ridden by John McGuinness indicates the electric bike racing scene is going to be very competitive in the near future.  Read More

The term "run" in the heading is perhaps a little generous, as the Rennholz trike can only actually go up to a top speed of 15 mph (24 km/h) for about ten minutes before needing a battery swap. Literally translated as Race Wood, it's by no means the only example of a drill-powered vehicle but the gorgeous curves of its shaped wood frame and familiar trike form factor make it much more of an eye-pleaser than, say, the University of Louisiana's Cajun Crawler. It was planned, designed and built by a team of product design students from HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts at Hildesheim in Germany for last year's Cordless Screwdriver Race and although it didn't actually win, the design did take both the Jury and Public awards at the race.  Read More

Drayson Racing Technologies and the Lola Cars group have just revealed what is intended to be the fastest electric-powered racing car in the world. The Lola-Drayson B12/69EV features Drayson's brand new 4X2-640 electric drivetrain, inductive charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical regenerative damping. Its four electric motors are said to deliver a whopping 850 horsepower and a top speed of around 200 mph.  Read More

The FIA, governing body of internal-combustion-engined motorsport, appears to have finally recognized the bleeding obvious (that electric vehicles will become mainstream) and is planning a high profile electric racing championship series beginning in 2013. The FIA Formula E Championship series has not been publicly framed as yet so it is not known if the series will be run at the same venues as the Formula One series but it can be expected to be held at a range of international venues and will logically serve as the first official championship for electric vehicles. Whether the series will have world championship status ...  Read More