In-Race EV Fast Charging Slated for Formula E Debut in April

• Mandatory 30-second Attack Charge is a far cry from the series’ early days.
  

• Racers to practice using a 600-kilowatt Boost Charger at events leading up to the mid-season implementation.

• ‘We need to make sure it’s done correctly,’ reigning champion Jake Dennis, of Andretti Global, says.

When the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E series began a decade ago, each driver needed two cars to finish the race. They would switch cars mid-race, because the battery wasn’t powerful enough to sustain a wire-to-wire run.

Exactly 10 years later, Formula E will be flaunting an advanced EV technology that allows a 30-second charge in the pits during the race to give the batteries 4 kWh of energy boost for the final stage of a race. It’s called Attack Charge will unlock the already popular Attack Mode that gives the car a temporary 350 kW jolt. Cars race otherwise at 300 kW.

Reigning series champion Jake Dennis said earlier this week ahead of the 2024 season opener at Mexico City that the series will introduce the delayed game-changer in Rounds 6 and 7, in April at Misano, Italy.

Because the number of Boost Charger units were few as recently as the October 2023 test session at Valencia, Spain, drivers still are getting used to the process. But Dennis said they need to incorporate it into their routines because it’s a key component to the sport’s mission beyond the racetrack, that it’s more than a tool to infuse an extra four kilowatt-hours of energy to use in the second half of the event.

“Right now, we're not fully confident in the whole of the systems, of trying to get everything working seamlessly. So it's been delayed until Misano,” Dennis said, alluding to the sixth and seventh rounds of 16. That means the post-Monaco races at Berlin, Shanghai, Portland (Oregon), and London are expected to include the Attack Charge, or Fast Charge, which will have an impact on the championship chase.

Dennis said, “We are not just sitting around, not practicing it until then. Each practice session, each run we do from now until Misano, will be practicing that and improving the software for each team. So it is going to be a big development process until whenever that is.”

That means spectators will see it in action for the first time during free practices this weekend in Mexico City.

“It's going to be a lot of hard work,” the Andretti Global driver said, “but I think ultimately the goal behind it is positive. I think most of the teams are for the idea, and I think what we're trying to promote with it all is important. The main goal of Formula E is to promote sustainability but also for the teams to make better road cars, electric road cars.

“And to have this Fast Charge inside the races is important for (the engineers),” Dennis said. “They learn important numbers. They learn important software which they can then put into their road car and make better road cars. So it's a topic which we can't ignore, and we can't just keep delaying it. We need to at some point commit to it and make it happen.”

That, he said, is the consensus throughout the paddock: “Most of us, or at least all of the guys I know, are excited for the idea of having Fast Charge. But we need to make sure it's done correctly. I think we will do that, and delaying it until Misano was the correct decision. As long as each team and the drivers work hard at it from now all the way till then, we should be in a very reliable and safe situation to do it.”