Atieva, the Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle technology company, announced that the spec battery pack of its own design will power the entire 24-car Formula E field for the upcoming 2019/20 race season in association with its partners.
The Formula E battery pack was conceptualized, designed, tested, and manufactured by Atieva at its Silicon Valley headquarters in Newark, California. Atieva is the technology wing of Lucid Motors.
Formula E is considered the world’s premier form of open-wheel electric racing, and 2019/20 will be the second consecutive season powered by the Atieva-designed battery pack. Prior to this, the race cars were battery-limited to a half-race distance. By enabling a full-race distance while also providing increased performance, Atieva’s battery pack will further demonstrate the potential of electric vehicle technology over the course of 14 exciting races.
“We were delighted with the performance of the pack in Season 5,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Atieva’s parent company, Lucid Motors. “We are proud that our technology has played a role in advancing this important form of motorsport and we look forward to the upcoming season.”
In creating the battery pack, Atieva first leveraged its substantial proprietary database of battery cells, with its engineers identifying a cell with the perfect blend of energy and power for this racing application. They next verified its suitability by simulating a full race season at pack level.
With the cell determined, Atieva’s engineers proceeded to design the pack with a unique and innovative trapezium shape to best integrate into the aerodynamic and structural envelope of the race car. Finally they computer simulated and extensively tested the pack for key attributes such as thermal management and structural performance. The Battery Management System (BMS) software was also created entirely in-house and ensures that the pack performs for the duration of the season with no significant degradation. The packs were then manufactured at Atieva’s headquarters.
For more details on the Formula E battery, read the article “Why Formula E Ventured into the Valley to Climb The Mountain,” found in the December 2019 copy of Race Tech Magazine.
