Porsche provides update on the development of its next-gen Formula E

Development of the next breed of Formula E cars is well underway and following initial development by chassis builders Spark and the series itself, manufacturers have begun their own in-house work

Porsche has been working on its car since November. After a concept phase, which began in 2024, the German brand moved onto simulations before initiating its track testing program towards the end of last year. In less than four months, Porsche has completed 1,427 kilometers/886 miles of test running at Monteblanco and Almeria in Spain, along with continued simulator running.

So far, the focus has been on hardware, with it being the most extensive manufacturer-developed package in the series to-date.

It’s not just an all-new chassis, but with almost 600kW on tap and permanent all-wheel-drive, along with two distinct aerodynamic configurations – high downforce for qualifying and low downforce for racing – it represents the biggest performance jump between generations of Formula E car. Along with those developments, some elements of the car that were previously control parts – namely the DC/DC converter and the brake-by-wire system – have now been handed over to the manufacturers to develop.

“In Formula E, we primarily develop the technical components that are relevant for our production sports cars,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “That is one of the reasons why we compete in Formula E.”

Throughout GEN3 and GEN3 Evo’s lifetime, Porsche has produced one of the best powertrains. So far it’s won two from three drivers’ titles, with Andretti driver Jake Dennis in 2023-24 and factory driver Pascal Wehrlein in 2024-25, as well as last season’s teams’ and manufacturers’ crowns. That means that finding improvements while producing something entirely new is a particular challenge. To do that, Porsche has turned to its road car division. While in the past it’s spoken of how lessons learned from Formula E have found their way into consumer products, with GEN4 that knowledge is working in reverse.

“With the current car, the efficiency of our drivetrain is over 97 percent. From the battery to the wheel, less than 3 percent of the energy used is lost – close to perfection and a key advantage of electric drive,” said Florian Modlinger, director, factory motorsport Formula E at Porsche. “In our development brief for GEN4, alongside further efficiency gains in the drivetrain components, we focused on potential in terms of weight, durability and costs – similar to EVs for the road. At the same time, 600 kW represents a 71 percent increase in power in Attack Mode. Overall, I believe it is fair to speak of a revolution.”

Visually the new car looks like nothing Formula E has seen before. But it’s not all about image. The new aero works, and left an instant impression on Wehrlein.

“I was able to drive the new car for the first time in Almería. It is really fast and great fun to drive,” he said. “Thanks to the new aerodynamics, we are significantly quicker, especially through the faster corners.

“They generate noticeable downforce. Because we have become so efficient over the years, we can finally afford the additional drag. I think GEN4 will be a real eye-opener for many people out there. Now it’s about fine-tuning our package as much as possible.”

For Nico Mueller, Wehrlein’s teammate at Porsche’s factory team, the addition of permanent four-wheel drive – something that’s only currently available in qualifying Duels and Attack Mode in races – will be the biggest game-changer in GEN4.

“The GEN4 is a real beast – with huge power and traction thanks to the permanent all-wheel drive. You could almost say it feels like a different sport,” he said. “How the car accelerates, how it brakes, how aggressively you can drive when trying to extract a bit more lap time: taken together, it reminds me of the supercars in rallycross.

“The sporting regulations for the new era have not yet been defined, but purely from a technical perspective, the racing is set to change significantly. I’m curious and very much looking forward to the next phase of testing.”

Porsche will continue on its current development path until October, before shifting to optimizing software, developments of which can be done during homologation windows.