With the I-TYPE 3, Jaguar unveils the electric single-seater that will race in the next Formula E season. The range will allow the full race to be completed without changing cars.
The Rome e-Prix, the seventh round of the Formula E championship, has just concluded. And with the upcoming rounds in Paris, Berlin and Zurich, the fourth season of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship is heading towards the grand finale in New York in July, which will be held at Red Hook, Brooklyn, on a street circuit 2.45 kilometres long with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. While we wait to find out who will win the most important motorsport competition dedicated to electric cars — the updated standings are shown here — Formula E will see several changes to the electric single-seaters for the 2018-19 season. To get a concrete idea, we went to take a look at the Panasonic Jaguar Racing car: the team has just unveiled its Jaguar I-TYPE 3, the "Gen 2" version of the race car that will make its debut in the fifth season of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
As previewed by Jean Todt, FIA president, and Alejandro Agag, Formula E's founder, at the recent Geneva Motor Show, the single-seaters for the next championship will change — more in substance than in form. Here are the main new features that, as with Jaguar's new I-TYPE 3 single-seater, will form the common base for all the teams lining up on the grid next season.
Today the cars cannot complete all the laps on a single charge. That is why there is a car swap at mid-race. But from next year, with the changes we have seen above, the new single-seaters will be able to complete the circuit without stopping to change vehicles. The good news? The organisation's goal is to power the single-seaters and the entire circus exclusively with renewable energy.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship regulations stipulate that manufacturers may design their own powertrain, which comprises the motor, transmission, inverter and rear suspension.
The components common to all teams are, by contrast, the carbon-fibre chassis and the battery. For all manufacturers, attention is focused above all on the development of the electric powertrains.
"A new chapter begins for Panasonic Jaguar Racing in the journey towards electrification," commented James Barclay, Team Director of Panasonic Jaguar Racing. "With Formula E we have returned to motorsport competition, and everything we learn race after race we transfer from the track to the road. The livery of the Jaguar I-TYPE 3 is a stylistic progression of the one on this season's race car."
"Last month I had the opportunity to drive the test version of the Jaguar I-TYPE 3. It was a great moment for us. The car got off to a good start and looks promising, but there is still a lot to do before racing it on track later this year," commented Nelson Piquet Jr after the first tests — the driver who, alongside New Zealander Mitch Evans, makes up the Panasonic Jaguar Racing team.
Formula E is the only motorsport competition that, with the exception of the Mexico ePrix, always takes place on temporary circuits laid out in the city centres of the world's major cities.
