FE could keep car swaps for longer

The delay in Formula E's adoption of open battery competition could coincide with the championship postponing its switch to single-car races until its sixth season.

The championship's roadmap targets the removal of the mandatory mid-race car swap for the 2018-'19 campaign.

Current supplier Williams is to be tasked with designing an upgraded battery for seasons three and four. That would give way to open battery competition in season five, in theory timed to coincide with dropping car swaps. Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said the season five deadline for single-car races was not set in stone.

"We are to see if it's possible without sacrificing too much performance," he said. "We want to keep the performance high. The idea is year five; it could be year six."

It would be difficult for a car to complete the current ePrix duration, around 50 minutes, on one battery unless wireless charging technology is implemented or significant gains are made on energy regeneration. If that is not achievable, the battery's current 28kWh energy capacity would need to be doubled for a full race distance to be completed with one car, a feat Williams doubts is possible given the current technological limitations.

FORMAT CHANGE BEING DISCUSSED

Agag said a change of format could be on the cards but dismissed suggestions the championship could drop longer races with car swaps for shorter single-car races just to appeal to skeptical manufacturers such as BMW.

"There is some discussion about maybe changing the format," he confirmed. "But we're not there yet, we're looking into it together with the FIA.

"That [moving from car swaps to single-car races] would be a very, very graphic way to show the big jump in technology that will be produced. The important opinions for me are the opinions of the manufacturers in the championship. The opinions of the manufacturers outside are less important."

A change in format could result in more events becoming double-headers in similar fashion to the season-ending London round, and single-race events having slightly altered Saturday timetables.

Originally on Autosport.com