Imagine an auto race with speed but no engine noise. That battery-powered vision is already here, with Formula E.
By Chico Harlan, Washington Post, April 23, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.
MISANO, Italy — The 22 racecars took their positions, shot off the starting line, and accelerated down a straightaway through the shimmering heat. The race was on — quietly.
The racecars rocketed past the grandstands, emitting nothing more than a mechanical whir. The tires hummed. Almost nobody in the crowd wore earplugs, as they might in Formula 1. As the cars zipped through the first few turns — 27½ laps to go — they sounded no louder than electric toothbrushes.
“It’s like whistling,” said Jeroen Bos, a motorsports fan from the Netherlands.
Creating an all-electric motorsport is a bold venture. Formula 1 and NASCAR have built big, entrenched cultures based on the appeal of classic full-throttle power. Even the famed motorsports catchphrase is an ode to combustion: Gentlemen, start your engines.
But Formula E, as the championship is known, is a study in the challenges — and potential — of the electric vehicle transition. In trying to make inroads with the sporting mainstream, Formula E is still figuring out how to market the idea of battery-powered racecars — and whether to play up its similarities to the gasoline age or the parts that are different.
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