Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Formula E returns to track this Saturday for its tenth season with a race in Mexico City, in a season that brings three new tracks and the debut of Formula E’s new ultra-fast mid-race charging system.
Formula E is the FIA’s top-level electric open-wheel racing series, racing single-seater racecars mostly on downtown street tracks in the world’s great cities. The series has so far raced in 24 countries and 30 cities across its first nine seasons, with 3 more new tracks and 1 new country added to the calendar for the tenth season.
At nearly 2,300m/7,500ft altitude, Mexico City’s track provides an excellent demonstration of the strengths of electric drive. Combustion vehicles that race there have to contend with thinner air, which means less efficient combustion and lower engine power. With electric drive, this isn’t a worry – electric motors work equally well at any elevation.
For season ten, Formula E’s faster, lighter, and much more angular Gen3 car returns, which debuted last season. It promised faster laptimes, but we saw only mildly improved laptimes compared to the previous year’s Gen2 equipment as teams got used to the new cars throughout the year.
But in this season’s winter testing in Valencia, the Gen3 cars proved to be more than a second faster than last year, suggesting that the teams might be getting the hang of their equipment (although part of this may have been due to testing occurring a month and a half earlier, in October, when the track was slightly warmer).
New tracks – Tokyo, Shanghai and Misano
Formula E will race on three new tracks and in one new country this year.
The biggest news is Formula E’s arrival in Tokyo, the world’s largest megacity and the series’ first race in Japan. The Tokyo race occurs around the “Tokyo Big Sight” international exhibition center, right alongside Tokyo Bay.
While Formula E has held many races in nearby Asian countries, it hasn’t been to race-obsessed Japan. Japan has its own racing leagues and Formula 1 is quite popular in the country, and the country has a particularly strong automotive industry. But that automotive industry has so far been hesitant to adopt electrification, so it will be good to see the reception for Formula E there.
Another new track will be in Shanghai, China. Formula E has raced in China multiple times before, at tracks in the capital Beijing (which held Formula E’s first race ever) and southern resort city Sanya. It has also raced in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai race will be held at Shanghai International Circuit, a true race track rather than a street track. This track has been used for Formula One races in the past and is scheduled to host another F1 race again this year, and is a high speed circuit with several long straights. High speed circuits have offered an interesting challenge for Formula E in the past, as higher speeds mean lower efficiency and increase the benefit gained from drafting, especially in a low-downforce and energy-constrained series like this one.
Last year at Portland (another purpose-built race track, which the series returns to this year), the race ended up taking on similar strategy to a bicycle race, with cars saving energy in a peloton-like pack until later in the race where the true sprint began. We might expect to see something similar from Shanghai – though it’s also likely that Formula E will use a shorter layout instead of the full high-speed F1 layout, as it has done on other tracks before.
Finally, the last new track is in Italy, where the series has raced many times before on the downtown street circuit at the Rome ePrix, but the race is moving this year to another actual race circuit at Misano Adriatico, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. This track is often used as a motorcycle track, much like Formula E’s winter testing track in Valencia, with lower speeds and a shorter lap length than the full Shanghai circuit (but longer than the Portland circuit).
Mid-race charging is finally here
We’ve come a long way since the first Formula E season, when originally drivers would stop in the middle of the race to swap from one car to another with a fully-charged battery. Formula E had gone with this system because it would be too difficult to set up mid-race charging or battery swapping, so they just swapped the driver from one car to the other instead.
The Gen2 car solved this problem, as battery density had improved enough that battery (or car) swapping was no longer necessary. Since then, Formula E cars haven’t needed pit stops, and finish the race on the same battery and tire they started on.
Formula E had originally planned to introduce a mid-race charging stop alongside the Gen3 car last year, but had to push back the plans for a year due to problems getting the equipment built.
Now, the system is ready to be used at select races this year, and it will debut at the aforementioned Misano Adriatico ePrix in Italy in April. For the races where it’s active, it will replace Formula E’s “Attack Mode” system, which gives every driver a period of boosted power use that they can use strategically to gain positions during the race.
The new mid-race charge system will be called “Attack Charge,” and will charge cars at up to 600kW, quite a bit faster than the fastest consumer-available fast chargers today that top out at 250-350kW.
Formula E says that a mandatory 30-second charging stop in the middle of the race will deliver about 4kWh of energy to the cars – this is only about ~10% worth of charge, but that’s not bad for 30 seconds of charging. This extra energy will be usable during periods later in the race where cars can boost power output to 350kW, rather than the standard 300kW.
The addition of a mid-race charging stop promises to shake up race results more, as teams will have some strategic flexibility about when to take their pit stops. This means more passing, which has always been a strong point of Formula E.
What to expect
Formula E has offered exciting racing all along, with significantly more lead changes and unpredictable racing than Formula One. Some of Formula E’s more chaotic races, like Portland last year, have had almost as many position changes during a single race as Formula One will see over an entire season.
Last season, 7 drivers from 6 teams won a Formula E race, whereas in F1 a single driver won 12 races on his own. The championship – which went to Jake Dennis, whose team Jaguar got second in the Teams’ championship behind Envision – wasn’t decided until the final race weekend, whereas the F1 championship was decided months before the season ended.
World Champion Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, sprays champagne on the podium
So if you’re interested in seeing unpredictable racing, Formula E is likely to provide that.
As with most years there have been a number of driver and team changes, with Nio leaving the sport and the team rebranding to ERT after new sponsorship. Several teams have swapped drivers or brought back former Formula E drivers, but the one new rookie is Jehan Daruvala, who joins Maserati. He comes from Formula 2 where his best season result was 7th, though he has ranked as high as 2nd in other series.
As much as the racing is unpredictable, over the course of a season the cream does tend to rise to the top. Some teams have classically done better across seasons, so we can expect the likes of Jaguar, Envision, Andretti, DS Penske and Porsche to show up near the top of the table. In winter testing, it looked as if the Jaguar powertrain, used by the Jaguar and Envision teams, performed best, so that bodes well for those two teams and their drivers Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy, Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi.
The first race of Formula E’s tenth season is this Saturday at 8 PM UTC, Noon/12 PM PST, 3 PM EST, or 2 PM local Mexico City time. In the US, all sessions will be streamed live on Roku, or will be broadcast delayed on Sunday at 4:30PM on CBS. To find out how to watch it in other regions, check out Formula E’s “Ways to Watch” page.
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss a big Tesla Robotaxi setback, the new Mercedes-Benz CLA EV, Bollinger is over, and more.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Climate XChange, a nonpartisan nonprofit working to help states pass effective, equitable climate policies. Sales end on Dec. 8th for its 10th annual EV raffle, where participants have multiple opportunities to win their dream model. Visit CarbonRaffle.org/Electrek to learn more.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
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After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
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Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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Segway’s feature-packed E3 Pro electric scooter with Apple Find My hits new $500 Black Friday low (Save $200)
Segway’s Black Friday Sale is in full gear and currently seeing hundreds in savings and plenty of returning and new low prices on its e-scooters and e-bikes. One such standout is Segway’s latest E3 Pro Electric Scooter down at $499.99 shipped, and which seems to have disappeared from Amazon’s marketplace. Carrying a $700 MSRP since launching back at the top of October, we’ve only seen this model given $100 price cuts in its launch deal and the brand’s Halloween and early Black Friday sales. Now, with things having ramped up with increased savings now that Black Friday is in full swing, you can score a larger-than-ever $200 markdown to a new all-time low price, giving you an advanced upgrade to your commute that I have been loving so far since getting one a short time ago.
I’ve been riding around Brooklyn for a short time now with my own Segway E3 Pro Electric Scooter and have been loving my experience so far, as it’s a MAJOR step up from the very basic E22 model I’ve had for short travels since 2020. While power has been significantly ramped up from its E2 Pro predecessor, this new generation still retains a fairly lightweight 40-pound design, which I am able (as a not-so-strong person) to carry easily with one hand/arm up and down my second-story stoop.
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Segway’s E3 Pro comes bearing a 400W motor (with 800W peaking) alongside a 368Wh battery, the combination of which delivers up to 34 miles of commuting support for your travels at up to 20 MPH speeds. The regenerative brake paired with the brand’s SegRange Optimization tech really lends towards the extended travel times here, with safety taken into mind with the SegRide stability enhancement tech, the latest traction control system, turn signaling, RGB ambient lighting for nighttime journeys, and a bright headlight. What’s more, security is bolstered by the Apple Find My inclusion for those worried about tracking it down should theft (or forgetfulness) occur.
One thing I have really been enjoying, especially when riding over more pot-hole lined streets, is Segway’s E3 Pro’s dual elastomer suspension, which does a great job of smoothing out overall rides, while providing added cushioning when sudden, jolting sections of the road (or debris/trash) are driven over. Along with all those, there are also additional features, including the previously mentioned rear electronic regen brake getting a companion front drum brake, as well as 10-inch self-sealing jelly tires, an IPX5 water-resistant build, a 265-pound total payload, and a 3-inch full-color LED screen for setting adjustments.
Score up to 47% Black Friday savings on NIU EVs, like the 2025 KQi 200F e-scooter at its $529 low (Reg. $799), more from $279
NIU’s Black Friday EV Sale is in full motion now, taking up to 47% off its lineup of e-scooters and e-bikes, like the KQi 200F Foldable Handlebar Electric Scooter for $529 shipped, which you can currently only find in a used condition at Amazon. This is one of the brand’s newer 2025 models that fetches $799 at full price, which dipped down to this rate for the first time earlier in the month before these Black Friday savings. Now, you’re getting another shot at this all-time low price with $270 savings, giving you a solid commuter that sits among the mid-range models from NIU.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
Tesla’s much-awaited entry into the Indian market has resulted in very slow sales to start, but it may not all be bad.
We’ve covered the years-long effort of Tesla to enter the Indian auto market. There have been a lot of intentions and fits and starts, but due to protectionist schemes in the country it never made a lot of sense for Tesla to enter.
That changed this year in March, when India waived EV import duties, allowing foreign firms to bring their cars in for sale. While India does have some strong local brands in Mahindra and Tata, this opened the gates to Chinese, German, Korean and American brands – namely, Tesla.
So far, other American companies have declined to bring their EVs to India, but Tesla opened its first showroom in Mumbai, India’s most populous city and financial capital, in July of this year. It opened a larger “Tesla Center” showroom in Gurugram, outside Delhi, this week.
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So, Tesla is only getting started in India, but by all measures it has been an exceedingly slow start, according to the BBC.
Dealership data shows that Tesla has only sold “just over” 100 cars in India since July, an exceedingly low number by any measure – especially when considering the India is now the most populous country in the world, with a population of just under 1.5 billion.
The numbers look a little less bad when comparing against EV sales in the country. While India has sold an impressive 2 million electric vehicles this year, the vast majority of them have been electric scooters.
Electric passenger cars are a much lower share at around 160k total unit sales this year so far, making up only around 3% of the passenger car market. And the majority of those are lower-cost domestic brands Mahindra and Tata or a growing section of Chinese challengers, with very few sales from overseas luxury brands.
Tesla could be included in that “luxury brand” list, largely due to the price of its imported vehicles. While the Model Y starts at $40k in the US, that price rises to 5,989,000 Rupees in India (~$67k USD). This is simply an unaffordable price for the vast majority of Indians – indeed, only around 1% of India’s auto sales are in the “luxury” category.
Further, EV infrastructure is not very well developed in the country. Tesla has one Supercharger in India, and two listed as “coming soon” in the Gurugram area. There are thousands of other charging points across India (and of course, drivers can charge overnight at home), but the number is still relatively low compared to the country’s population.
Meanwhile, other brands’ EV sales are growing well in India. The auto market as a whole has grown by about 13% this year in the developing country, but EV car sales have grown by 57% in the same period, rapidly outpacing the auto industry as a whole.
Much of that sales growth has been driven by Chinese EVs, which make up around a third of the market. That’s around ~60k Chinese EVs sold this year in India.
Even luxury German EVs from Mercedes, BMW and Audi have sold around 4,000 units so far this year, not a large number, but certainly dwarfing Tesla’s.
So while it’s tempting to look at Tesla’s poor numbers and make excuses about the size of the EV market, ability of Indians to afford luxury vehicles, or state of India’s charging network, it’s hard to compare that low ~100 sales number at any of the competition and label it as anything other than an extremely poor showing.
But, you do have to start somewhere, and the company is only a few months in. So we’ll have to see where it goes from here – though with the sales we’ve seen so far in Mumbai, entering the Delhi market is unlikely to forestall Tesla’s current global sales decline.
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