Hasta La Gadget!

A few months ago we got our first look at the Spark-Renault SRT_01E Formula E teams will be racing next year, and just recently, that car hit a test track in France for the first time to see how it held up. Spark Racing president Frédéric Vasseur reported things went well, with the car turning about 40 laps over two days of testing at La Ferté Gaucher without taking a sip of fuel. The video after the break captures a few clips from the laps — running on a smaller 50kW battery, just 25 percent of the 270hp-equivalent power race-ready cars will have — and while we’ll need to adjust to the lack of noise, perhaps its impressive torque and handling can make up for it. More tests are planned before the first race in Beijing next September as the team pushes its mileage up bit by bit before running a full race simulation.

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Source: Formula E

Ahead of the Frankfurt Motor Show this week, Qualcomm has come out to announce that it’ll be bringing its Halo wireless charging technology to the first-ever Formula E electric vehicle race next year. But before y’all get too excited, only the safety cars will be equipped with Halo for the first season, which goes from September 2014 to June 2015 in London, Rome, Berlin, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles and many more places.

As with these safety cars plus trial vehicles from London taxi firm Addison Lee, the current-gen Halo requires electric vehicles to stay still on large charging pads, which isn’t ideal for racing cars. That said, Qualcomm CMO Anand Chandrasekher told us that his folks are already looking into bringing dynamic charging to racing cars starting in the second season. In other words, these battery-powered vehicles will eventually be able to recharge while still running on the race track!

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The FIA’s upcoming Formula E series has revealed two US dates on its début 2014 calendar (Los Angeles, Miami) and yesterday it took to LA’s streets to promote the partnership. For Earth Day, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa welcomed Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag downtown along with a Formula E racecar for the exhibition. The race will run on downtown streets next year, although the exact route the 140mph-capable EVs will take has yet to be locked down. Unfortunately there’s no video of the event so while you can’t not-hear its electric engine humming along as it burned rubber in the streets, the pictures in this gallery and video from its Moscow and Rome exhibitions will have to do.

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Source: Formula E

McLaren isn’t a brand that most would associate with eco-friendly motoring. That very nearly makes it a surprise to see the supercar builder throw itself wholeheartedly into performance EVs with a new deal for Formula E racing: it’s supplying all the motors, electronics and transmissions for Spark Racing Technology-made cars to be used in the pure-electric league’s inaugural 2014 season. Full technical details await, but the championship’s choice of noise-sensitive urban racetracks guarantees that we won’t hear attempts to recreate an F1 engine’s high-RPM buzz anytime soon — we’re more likely to hear the tire noise. We’ll deal with any lost romanticism if it means giving Formula E, and performance EVs, a healthy dose of credibility.

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McLaren to supply EV groundwork for Formula E cars, take pro racing electric originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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