Formula E is not only a space that once again brings together the world’s motorsport brands in another ordinary tournament in the exciting world of motorsport, but also represents a key space for testing and developing technology for electric vehicles.
The company is described as an impressive laboratory in which manufacturers conduct tests with the aim of accelerating their electrification processes also in the field of their urban models outside the sporting competition.
DS, one of the pioneering teams, describes Formula E as a “true open-air laboratory“, helping to accelerate innovation in terms of both hardware and software in the electric vehicles it sells to the public.
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High Innovation
The technology applied in Formula E carries over and powers the ultra-high-performance powertrains, which operate at an efficiency of more than 97%, as well as the cutting-edge software that provides the “brains” for its Gen3 car: the DS E-TENSE FE23.
The company points out that this constitutes a major source of technology transfer that can be achieved at relatively manageable costs compared to the production of physical parts.
This is particularly the case with what can be learned during a season and beyond when it comes to optimizing regenerative braking.
It is important to be fast to win in Formula E, but also to recover energy when braking as efficiently as possible. To achieve this, the engineers at DS Automobiles‘ competition arm design algorithms that optimize this important element of competition.
In that sense, everything DS Performance learns about software through its Formula E campaign is useful knowledge for the development teams working on DS Automobiles’ on-road E-TENSE models.
Technological Reference
The DS 7 E-TENSE 4×4 360 uses energy recovery software that comes directly from Formula E. This is even more efficient than the system used on previous models and optimizes management by analyzing the pressure exerted on the brake pedal to offer unprecedented braking characteristics.
“Motorsport is a vital research and development tool,” says Eugenio Franzetti, DS Performance Director. “That’s why DS Automobiles chose the ABB FIA Formula E FIA World Championship to electrify its range.”
“The experience accumulated over many seasons was and continues to be very useful for the development of today’s and tomorrow’s road cars. A clear example of this is energy recovery under braking, which is studied and pushed to the limit in Formula E, then transferred to all our electric road car models,” he added.
DS is one of the most decorated outfits in the history of Formula E. Two double titles, a points record and 16 victories, most recently at the hands of Jean-Eric Vergne in Hyderabad, place it among the series’ benchmarks.
