It is believed that at least three FIA Formula E Championship contenders are considering tendering for the supply of the control battery from season five and beyond.
Earlier this season, the postponement of allowing open battery competition was to be extended until at least season seven but Mahindra Racing Formula E Team, DS Virgn Racing and Renault e.dams confirmed to Autosport, they will evaluate the proposal. Current battery supplier Williams Advanced Engineering, has hinted that they also wish tender.
Speaking to Autosport, Dilbagh Gill said: “…Batteries are a priority for Mahindra. We’re going to continue developing that, and we were ready [to provide our own battery] for season three.
We will look and evaluate the tender. It’s a sensible roadmap, its achievable – what we need for season five we have in our laboratory.”
Sylvain Filippi, chief technical officer at DS Virgin Racing, confirmed that they were taking the tender seriously. “It’s crucial to know how to make batteries, we want to develop everything,” he said. “Some really interesting solutions will come up.You could put a rule in saying no current competing manufacturer can apply but that’s stupid because you’re limiting half the companies that can bid.”
In the next rule cycle, the battery will have a weight of 330kg, 250kg of cells, 54kWh of useable energy and a power output of 250W, with the control supplier set to be given a two or three year deal with the series.
Previously, Williams Advanced Engineering’s Paul McNamara said that they were launching a study to try and workout if it was possible to allow one battery to complete a full race distance, which is a target for the series by the time season five comes around.
However, teams throughout the series were not particularly happy when it was announced that when Jaguar make their debut in the series, they will have partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering due to the extensive knowledge about the current battery deal.
