Williams will supply the batteries for the Formula E championship
After McLaren and Renault, it is Williams team's turn to join the future world championship of electric single-seaters. The Grove-based team will provide batteries to the Formula E grid's cars.
The FIA decided to launch a new motorsport championship in 2014, Formula E, which will be a championship featuring electric single-seaters. While the universe is quite different from Formula 1, some F1 stakeholders have decided to take on this new challenge.
McLaren will provide the car’s electronics, while Renault will power the Formula E cars. Recently, Williams announced its involvement with Spark Racing Technology for the supply of batteries.
If, like McLaren, it is not the F1 team itself that is involved but the automotive group built around it, this battery system will be notably inspired by the work done by Williams Advanced Engineering on the KERS, introduced in F1 in 2009, as well as on the hybrid system that equips the Audi R18 and was developed by Williams Advanced Engineering.
Sir Frank Williams, the founder of the eponymous team, expressed his enthusiasm for this new partnership forged by the group that bears his name: “We are delighted to partner with Spark Racing Technology to implement our battery technology in their single-seaters for the FIA Formula E championship next year. It is an exciting new championship that will play a key role in highlighting the growing relevance of technologies initially developed for motorsport to a wider world [everyday cars, ed.].”
The first season of Formula E will take place next year with a calendar of 10 races, making stops in Los Angeles, Miami, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, London, Rome, Shanghai, and Putrajaya in Malaysia. A unique feature of the championship is that during pit stop races, drivers will have to switch cars, leaving the one with depleted batteries for one with charged batteries.
