Some might suppose that this isn’t much of a challenge for us after 125 years of making motorsports history. But the fact is that Formula E is a completely new challenge even for our experienced colleagues. It’s not just that instead of the hybrid power unit of our F1 car from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, our Formula E car has an all-electric drive system — that’s only the beginning. This year and the next three years, all of the teams will be driving cars built on a uniform chassis, known as the “Gen2.” So the motorsports teams won’t be allowed to alter the one component that they especially like to tinker with.
The body, chassis, front suspension, tires, and 52 kWh lithium-ion battery (which is equivalent to around 6,000 smartphone batteries) of the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E team’s new Formula E car look exactly the same as those of all the other Formula E cars.
And that makes the technology behind our swift electric race car even more exciting. Franco Chiocchetti is a seasoned veteran in this field. He worked in the DTM racing series for 15 years in all, and he’s worked in the Formula E series for the past five years — first as a race engineer and later on as the head of technical operations. Today he’s the Head of Formula E Track Operations.