For the first time since the 2017/18 season, pitstops are set to return to Formula E in 2024, with fast-charging finally being ready for its introduction.
It was confirmed by The Race, that following a one-year delay, fast-charging pitstops will be a thing in Formula E next season, adding a new element for the teams and the drivers to understand.
Fast-charging pitstops were initially meant to be introduced for the start of the Gen3, but issues with the RESS battery units meant that it just wasn’t possible to get everything in place for it to be used. There were suggestions that fast-charging pitstops would be introduced mid-season, but the paddock was heavily against this.
The 600kW ‘booster’ chargers will be supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, although Formula E title partner ABB will be heavily involved. The issues with the RESS battery units meant that the chargers couldn’t be developed quickly enough to be introduced in 2023, with their delay largely being due to the sport wanting the technology to be dependable.
Teams were adamant that the technology had to be reliable before it was introduced, with Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach insisting that this was “very important”.
“Hopefully the spec parts never decide a championship,” Laudenbach said last month, as reported by The Race.
“That’s very important to us, and this also applies to charging. Therefore, teams are pushing hard to get it into the series only when we are all convinced that it is mature enough.
“That’s a very important point; if we are not sure it works properly, we’d rather postpone, we’d rather bring it a bit later like we did this year. Even so with that we pay a price, but that’s even better than probably deciding a championship with a technical failure where the competitor can’t do anything.
“Because that’s always difficult to sell and that’s not what we want either.”
Introducing the new concept for the start of season 10 makes perfect sense, with a meeting having taken place with all of the teams and the FIA after the London E-Prix, to inform the sides that it would be part of the race structure in 2024.
The FIA have been carrying out simulations to see how the ‘attack charge’ pitstops would affect races, with there being the possibility that cars could be lapped on shorter circuits. One concern amongst stakeholders, though, is that the mandatory stop could break up the traditional close racing, which made season nine so thrilling.
Marek Nawarecki, the FIA’s director of sport, confirmed that the governing body are investigating how the fast-charging pitstops will impact Formula E’s sporting format, by carrying out their simulations.
“We should be very, very careful how it will affect the sporting format and it’s something that we are we are looking at,” said Nawarecki, as quoted by The Race.
“We are trying to see different scenarios on simulation to see what would be the most relevant way to implement it in the sporting format knowing that will bring additional interesting stories for the championship. But we would also like to protect the true value of the current format we see.”
The season 10 opener in Mexico City is really when the impact of fast-charging pitstops will be truly discovered and how it will alter races going forwards, adding a new unknown for fans to be excited about.
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