The FE Shanghai Station audience was very enthusiastic about watching the race
FE has become much more beautiful, especially the 2025 FE Electric Formula Shanghai Station which just ended last week. Whether it is the fast charging that was just added this year, or the more recognizable GEN 3 EVO racing car, or the continuation of the energy-saving and sustainable concepts from inside to outside the field, I feel a different kind of racing fun.
As a racing fan with more than 20 years of racing experience, my racing enlightenment undoubtedly came from F1, WRC, Dakar and Le Mans, which are more historical and high-profile events. In recent years, a less experienced but also very promising event has entered my racing life, that is Formula E (hereinafter referred to as FE).
As a young event that was only launched in 2014, FE actually has a lot of connections with China. The first race of the first competition was held in Beijing. Hong Kong and Sanya have also appeared on the FE calendar, and the Shanghai International Circuit, which I am familiar with, will also become the venue for the FE Shanghai Station in 2024 and 2025.
At the 2019 FE Sanya Station, the team technicians used super glue to repair the car
Looking back on my last "electric shock" experience with FE, it dates back to the Sanya station in 2019. Although Sanya perfectly meets the purpose of FE to promote street races instead of new tracks and to hold races over two days instead of three days to minimize the impact on the city and carbon emissions, after a weekend dominated by the scorching sun at the end of March, in addition to my sunburned arms, my biggest impression of the race may be the "attack mode" that increases power in a short period of time, the somewhat strange FanBoost mode that votes for drivers to increase horsepower, the well-shaped GEN 2 car (I think it looks better than the GEN 3 car from some angles), and the magic weapon used by the technicians during temporary repairs - super glue. As for the champion driver and the track layout, I don't remember them.
The new GEN 3 EVO car still looks quite sci-fi
After 6 years, I came to the track I am more familiar with. Entering the eleventh season, FE has changed a lot. The FanBoost mode has been cancelled. The new GEN 3 EVO car not only has more horsepower, but can be turned into four-wheel drive in attack mode, and even adds pit stop fast charging, a new technology that can change the direction of the race strategy. I also followed the champion team of last season, the Jaguar TCS team, back to the paddock of FE to feel the speed and passion that is different from fuel racing.
The GEN 3 EVO race car that was launched this year
The FE Shanghai Grand Prix weekend includes two rounds of competition, and the keyword for the first round is "fast charging at the pit stop."
The rules require all drivers to use fast charging in the pits, and they must pit when the vehicle is 40%-60%. By performing a 30-second, 600kW fast energy replenishment in the track maintenance area, the car can be provided with an additional 10% energy boost (3.85kWh). Since each team has only one charging gun, the two drivers of the team cannot pit fast charging at the same time. In addition, the FE track is a short-distance layout (3km in length, only about 60% of the total length of the track is used), and a lap takes only a little over a minute. A pit fast charging time, including the exit time, is close to 1 minute, which undoubtedly adds a lot of tactical changes and uncertainties to the race. The actual result is the same. The battle in the first round of the race continued from the starting line all the way to the last corner of the last lap, which can be said to be full of suspense.
FE's pit stop fast charging
If we want to briefly summarize the second round of the race, "rain" is definitely one of the most important keywords. After the scorching sun on Saturday, the heavy rain on Sunday turned the second round of the race into a "big melee". Especially in the wet track environment, the slippery road surface and lower visibility, the lower fault tolerance also test the hard power of each driver. The Jaguar TCS team also swept away the haze of Saturday. Driver Nick Cassidy drove the Jaguar I-TYPE 7 car to lead the way, won the pole position and finally crossed the finish line first with an advantage of more than 7 seconds, climbed the highest podium, and won the Shanghai station championship trophy again on behalf of the team after a year.
The rain race is a test of the driver's strength
Nick Cassidy won the second round of qualifying pole position and the race win
FE is not only a competition on the track, but also outside the track, it is also implementing the "green" and "environmental protection" concept and practice. For example, in the drinking water stations distributed around the fan area, through the use of recyclable water cups, FE has reduced more than 600,000 disposable plastic bottles from entering the landfill. Limiting the areas where racing cars can be developed to reduce repeated waste of R&D investment, limiting the number of tires each weekend to reduce carbon emissions from logistics and transportation, are all making this sport more "green" and "sustainable."
I took this water cup home and continued to use it. It's very good.
Before the race, James Barclay, race director of the Jaguar TCS team, also shared that due to the concept of reducing carbon emissions, the practice time for each FE race is very short, so simulation in a virtual environment becomes very important. They are working with cloud computing technology sponsors such as TCS in the field of digital twins, so that the virtual vehicle verification model on the simulator can be continuously verified and updated, so as to verify the software and any changes to the car before applying them to the car, so as to achieve the championship with the least trial and error cost.
James Barclay, Jaguar TCS Racing Director
There is no doubt that as a rising star, FE is naturally the world's top electric race. After 11 seasons of evolution, it has become more and more interesting and exciting. For me, this is another dream weekend, and now I am looking forward to the next FE race.
