Formula E Gen3 cars are seriously testing fast charging, backed up by some serious innovations and electrical architecture. After being developed for some time, the new cars were released and tested at the Autodromo Ricardo Paletti in Varano, Italy.
Porshe’s tests at Varano are top-secret, although the charging footage doesn’t show the car completely stopped. This Formula E Gen3 car performs the world’s fastest electric charging with an unprecedented fast charging system.
“We can see chargers and cables, and hear a prototype Jaguar Gen3 car arriving and stopping in pit stops,” wrote The Drive page.
Gen3 cars get a substantial upgrade over Gen2. This car is lighter, more powerful and more advanced, but also uses a different power strategy. The battery pack in the Gen2 weighs 849 pounds (385.1 kg), in contrast to the Gen3 which is made lighter at 626 lbs (283.9 kg).
However, this battery has a slightly reduced capacity of 51kWh compared to the Gen3’s 54kWh. The loss in power capacity of just around 3kWh for a lighter 223 lbs (100 kg) battery is certainly impressive.
But the smaller battery capacity means the new car won’t be able to finish the race without charging it. That’s where the new 600kW charging architecture continues to be maintained. It is the fastest charging electric vehicle (EV) on the planet.
The fastest commercial EV charger can deliver 350kW. 600kW charging allows one stop at the pit stop for 30 seconds of charging during the race. The addition of 4kWh of power to the battery to almost directly offset the 3kWh loss in battery capacity.
Gen3 cars will also benefit from dual motors, one on each axle. The rear motor now produces 469 horsepower, up from 335 hp. The front motor produces 335 hp but will not be used for propulsion.
Instead, it provides regenerative braking to the front axle. Because of this, the Gen3 car will be the first open-wheel formula car without hydraulic rear brakes. Of course this delivers up to 40 percent of the power used in a race with the same 600kW as a pit stop charger.
These cars have not been used in any official races. The next Formula E season with new Gen3 cars will begin in January 2023 at the Mexico City E-Prix.
