Challenges of electric car racing

THE Formulec EFO1: Top speed of 250 kph and racing time capability of 20 minutes

Is it possible to build an electric racing car that can replicate the performance of a Formula BMW? Or phrased another way, can a top level global motorsport series for electric vehicles(EVs) similar to Formula One for internal combustion IC) engines be developed that will attract audiences all over the world?

These challenging questions are being addressed by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), the governing body of all four-wheel motorsports worldwide, after the European Union tasked it earlier this year with building a racing series for electric vehicles. The obstacles facing an EV racing program are reviewed in the cover story of the August 2011 issue of InMotion, the international magazine of the FIA.

The case for an EV racing series is based on the argument that while IC car racing contributes little to the buildup of global greenhouse gases that leads to climate change, the modern interpretation of motorsport demands that technology developed for racing should deliver real world benefits to the automotive industry, society at large, or both, the InMotion article states. Under favorable circumstances, that is difficult enough to deliver, but to do so with a powertrain rooted in the 20th century will be impossible. Moreover, from a commercial point of view, sponsors with green agendas of their own will find it less appealing.

KERS. The ability to make an electric racing car has long existed, for example the electric F3000 demonstrator built in the 1980s by the Zytek Group, a designer and manufacturer of both electric and hybrid powertrains. While Zytek motorsport applications senior engineer Pete May thinks that, given the success of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) in Formula One,  producing a drivertrain capable of delivering the same power as a petrol engine with less than two-thirds of the weight is feasible, but is limited by energy storage problems.

As a consequence of the slower pace of battery technology development compared to the giant strides made by electric motors and power electronics since the 1980s, the race distance of an EV would last maybe only 10-15 minutes, May says. And making an EV that would produce the same performance as an IC is a lot more expensive than making the IC equivalent. May theorizes that an EV series could start now with a fully designed car and increase the duration of races according to progress made in battery technology.

On the other hand, Dr. Paul Faithfull of the Potenza Group, owner of the two-seater Westfield iRacer that will compete in the SportsEV category of the EV Cup on November 26 at Laguna Seca, thinks that the issue of “range anxiety” doesn’t exist to the same extent since we know how far the vehicle needs to go. Potenza Technology is developing an optional “buddy pack” of extra batteries to fill the passenger compartment and significantly increase the range of the Westfield iRacer, which weighs 770 kg, carries about 320 kg of lithium phosphate batteries storing 23 kWh (kilowatt hours per kilogram) feeding two 80 kW Oxford YASA motors driving the rear wheels. At racing pace, that should be sufficient for a 13-lap race of the 2.6 km Silverstone National Circuit, the iRacer’s designers suggest.

NO ISSUE. Race time should not be an issue, says Eric Barbaroux, former CEO of the French Grand Prix who heads Formulec, the organizer of a single-seater EV series in France. A 10-race series is planned to begin late in 2012 in which the EFO1 (zero to 100 kph in less than 3 seconds, top speed 250 kph, racing time capability 20 minutes)  will be fielded.  Barbaroux points out that the 100 meter race in the Olympics takes just 10 seconds, but it is the biggest media event. So the key is to build an event around the main race and to create the right kind of atmosphere on the one day of the race. TV can cover the main event of live racing that will take 30 minutes and, packaged with 20 minutes of highlights and interviews, a parcel of around 50 minutes will result, which is what the broadcasters are looking for, he says.

Barbaroux emphasizes that while there is potential for a global electric racing series, comparing it with any form of IC racing should be avoided.  Every sport has its own way of doing things, he contends, so rather than trying to compete with IC racing, a different strategy has to be adopted for EV racing.

As an engineer, Barbaroux believes that the electric motor has just as much or even more potential than the petrol engine, which is still not very efficient despite 100 years of constant development. Although chemically there is a lot more energy in one liter of petrol than in one liter of electrolyte, he notes that there are huge areas of electrical energy that have not been researched.

INEVITABLE. Another professional engineer who was a former British GT race driver and now owns Drayson Racing, which aims “to be the world’s leading green technology racing team” also believes that an electric championship is inevitable. Lord Paul Drayson, a member of the FIA’s Alternative Energies Commission, was the former UK Minister for Science and Technology and has an engineering background with a PhD in robotics.  Noting that the world has less than 40 years of oil left, making the need to overcome energy dependency urgent, Drayson foresees a dramatic growth of EVs in the next 10 years. This presents a commercial opportunity for race teams and for motorsport technology development organizations to develop products, systems and cars for that market, he says.

Batting for full EV motorsport, Drayson is quoted by InMotion as asserting: “From the engineering standpoint, EV has the advantage of being focused. A hybrid needs to integrate an electrical system with an IC system and then carry around the weight of both. An EV racer has its own challenges but they are based mostly around range, which itself is determined by drag, the weight and performance of the batteries and the efficiency of the vehicle. While technically demanding, this allows us to focus on the areas of development that are most valuable for moving forward the performance of the overall vehicle.”