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Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

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Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#51

Post by dmaz »

semerda wrote: post #41
jeremyrwelch wrote: post #27

Excellent interview with Formula E founder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrTbdKe0XTo Best quote, when asked if he thought we could end our dependence on oil: "The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones." Really important to understand that this is just the first iteration of their plan. Goal is to get to single car for a full hour race within a few years. Agag says they now have many major cities approa…

It's all relative. 80 decibels in the day isn't that loud. It's the sound of a vacuum cleaner. At night on the other hand 80db is loud. Considering that the F1 are 140DB the sound differences are massive.

To update that number, the new turbocharged engines required in Formula 1 since 2014 are much quieter (to some fans' dismay), maxing out around 100 dB.

http://www.marca.com/2014/01/30/motor/formula1/1391085772.ht... (Spanish)

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#52

Post by vl »

f055 wrote: post #32
gsnedders wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main aim with the limited number of allowed modifications is to keep the cost of entry low, such that the brand new championship actually gets entrants. It's hard to justify a large budget for an unheard of championship.

I was really excited for FE, but at the moment is too like gokarts for me. But if your predictions come true, and they open up everything, I would really like FE to become as crazy as the innovative F1 years of 70s, 80s and early 90s - where just the speed and winning mattered, without the carbon and safety levels ruining the sport...

>too like gokarts for me. But even Formula 1 is essentially pimped-up shifter gokart.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#53

Post by brc »

jkot wrote: post #2

There are limits on everything: acceleration, maximal speed and even noise. Formula E will be boring same way as Formula 1. Identical cars circling around the track.

If you think formula 1 cars are identical, you're not really paying attention.

They look the same in the way a Lenovo and an Apple look the same.

There are rules on track and wheelbase, crash structure and aero wing size that tend to dictate the overall silhouette, but from there, everything else is very different.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#54

Post by f055 »

makeitsuckless wrote: post #48
proveanegative wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>At the moment, F1 has little diversity and lots of restricting regulations. What would Formula 1 look like today with no restrictions beyond basic driver safety?

It would consist of just two or three remaining teams being able to raise the funds to compete... Or in other words, it would no longer exists, because the public would lose interest in the lack of competition.

The funding cap currently in place makes sense, but the extremely restrictive construction rules don't. Some public, including me, lost interest anyway a few seasons ago. I would love to see F1 with say $50M max season budget and no rules :)

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#55

Post by f055 »

vl wrote: post #52
f055 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really excited for FE, but at the moment is too like gokarts for me. But if your predictions come true, and they open up everything, I would really like FE to become as crazy as the innovative F1 years of 70s, 80s and early 90s - where just the speed and winning mattered, without the carbon and safety levels ruining the sport...

>too like gokarts for me. But even Formula 1 is essentially pimped-up shifter gokart.

Thanks to too restrictive regulations. I miss the times of four-front-wheelers, gas turbines and vacuum-undercarriage.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#56

Post by rcxdude »

MarkyC4 wrote: post #46
semerda wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all relative. 80 decibels in the day isn't that loud. It's the sound of a vacuum cleaner. At night on the other hand 80db is loud. Considering that the F1 are 140DB the sound differences are massive.

Just to add to this, 140dB isn't about twice as loud as 80dB as the units might lead you to believe, since the scale is logarithmic: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel These FE cars are MUCH quieter than their F1 cousins.

Well, in terms of sound energy, but our hearing is also logarithmic, so 140dB will sound about twice as loud.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#57

Post by Htsthbjig »

5 gear gearboxes?

WHY?

I have an electrical car. They don't need gearboxes, or probably one gear at all.

Had they introduced gearboxes so pilots could feel they do something? If so they don't need gearboxes for that they could manually control the electronics control of the engine.

That leaves the option of manufacturers of gearboxes wanting electric cars to use them.

But this is stupid, and make no sense, as it makes the entire car heavyweight for resisting the torques. They are obsolete. The future is motors on wheels.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#58

Post by aetherspawn »

Htsthbjig wrote: post #57

5 gear gearboxes? WHY? I have an electrical car. They don't need gearboxes, or probably one gear at all. Had they introduced gearboxes so pilots could feel they do something? If so they don't need gearboxes for that they could manually control the electronics control of the engine. That leaves the option of manufacturers of gearboxes wanting electric cars to use them. But this is stupid, and make no sense, as it make…

As I said below, one reason they might run a transmission is so that they constantly run the engine in the most energy efficient zone (which might vary by up to 30%), giving them a longer battery life. There are other factors to consider about whether this is justified, however, like the losses introduced in the transmission.

Whether the drivers are trained to take advantage of this is another story.

Re: Racing goes electric: At the track with Formula E, the first e-racing series

#60

Post by tacticus »

CHY872 wrote: post #38
Swizec wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Color me old-fashioned, but I think this sounds horrible. The noise is annoyingly like a high-pitched screech. Grating on the ears. Then again, F1 cars have terrible sound as well. Too high rev to have a nice sound. edit: I find it interesting that they have a Senna and a Prost. Coincidence? edit2: their top speeds are apparently also over 140km/h lower than F1 (225km/h vs. ~360km/h). I wonder why they decided to lim…

It'll only get raised with additional battery technology, I think. Around a normal track, where an F1 car will get up to that speed, it will use about 1.7kg of fuel per lap, and this corresponds roughly to about 8kWh per lap, taking thermal efficiency into account. Formula E cars have about 200kg of batteries (a Tesla has >500kg), and these provide about 28kWh - which would run out a little after 3 laps, or perhaps l…

Still loud as all fuck when they are occupying the park next to your office.
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