Ran across this on CNN and haven't found any old threads about it:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/28/sport/motorsport/formula-e-electirc-motorsport/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/21/business/formula-e-agag/
Top speeds are only in the low 200s (don't know why) and they'll need a "refuel" after 25 minutes of driving flat-out. Oddly, rather than swapping battery packs as done in electric motorcycle racing, when the cars pit the driver will change cars 
EV hate rants starting in ....
...5...4...3...2...1
I don't really hate EVs but won't racing be a bit boring with out engine noises?
93EXCivic wrote: I don't really hate EVs but won't racing be a bit boring with out engine noises?
Maybe for the spectators. But Audi runs some near-silent turbo-diesels in Le Mans.
93EXCivic wrote: I don't really hate EVs but won't racing be a bit boring with out engine noises?
I think I just need time to adapt. I love the sound of ICEs in their many varieties. But it may be that eventually all that will be like a bad muffler or an ill-tuned Harley, about which I tend to abuse the Bard; "...all sound and fury, signifying nothing". After all, the noise isn't making it any faster.
Eventually, this may be the sound of energy becoming motion with little wasted on racket*: Kill-A-Cycle
Excuse me, I need to go find a Ducati to listen to...
*yeah, I know sound is cheap from an energy standpoint, but it's often to do with extraneous wasted energy
Definitely need to institute the idea of swapping batteries. It would introduce new and innovative means for power connectors, battery construction (and weight) and battery integrity.
Yeah swapping batteries is something that will seem silly quite soon on the consumer side but it will be a fixture in racing for a long time to come.
They should be forced to have a cone speaker pointing out the back of the car which plays an engine note depending on the speed of the car.
Portable thermonuclear reactors with huge power cables that you plug in and the air glows around the car and cable from all the power being transfered.
That'd be pretty sweet.
I would be shocked if this class happened! (pun very intended)
Conquest351 wrote: Portable thermonuclear reactors with huge power cables that you plug in and the air glows around the car and cable from all the power being transfered. That'd be pretty sweet.
It would, but it would make the battery explode 
Maybe some day...
In all seriousness, this is pretty sweet. Racing has furthered the automotive field faster than anything else. Think of what it'll do to the EV. Quicker charges, more power, less weight, more efficient batteries, etc. Would be cool. Hell, use inductive charging around the track in the track itself or in the side rails. All kinds of cool "maybes" and "ya could dos" when it comes to the EV.
Electric race cars: Perhaps the greatest middle finger to suburban NIMBYs.
Mitchell wrote: Electric race cars: Perhaps the greatest middle finger to suburban NIMBYs.
HELL YES!!!
As long as the cars don't make that annoying siren sound that the current generation of EV rally and hillclimb cars make, I'm all for it.
Seriously. I hate that noise. I would rather be run over than listen to it for the 10 seconds it takes for the cars to disappear from my view.
Conquest351 wrote:Mitchell wrote: Electric race cars: Perhaps the greatest middle finger to suburban NIMBYs.HELL YES!!!
Amen. I logged in on my phone just to +1 that post.
BMW would be the perfect company to help create some appropriate canned engine noise!
boxedfox wrote: As long as the cars don't make that annoying siren sound that the current generation of EV rally and hillclimb cars make, I'm all for it. Seriously. I hate that noise. I would rather be run over than listen to it for the 10 seconds it takes for the cars to disappear from my view.
The EV cars at Pike's Peak all had noisemakers, but in just about every case it was only loud enough to let you know that you had just been run over by an electric car. Nowhere near loud enough to give advance warning once they'd left the pits.
Making electric race cars make engine noises would be like requiring 1930's race cars to have fake horses pulling them. Why should they sound like internal combustion? They're not.
Make it sound like a TIE fighter or something, that'd be cool!
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