I was answering to SimCity3 about riding in London. But I am sure cycling on other regions can bring different challenges at you correctly point out. It's not a serious alternative for many.
When are they finally going to mandate ice, mguk and mguh to be completely modular and fully compatible among different manufacturers? That way if someone wants to enter F1 as ice supplier only teams don’t have to worry about the electric part but be entitled to pick choose the existing ones they prefer at a fixed cost.
Uh, never! And don't forget the piles of software that make the 4 components run properly for 6 races each.
Every major car manufacturer is now focusing on electric cars, why would any of them invest a lot anymore in a hybrid engine?? And we are talking about 2026 when electric cars will be even more popular than now. In my opinion F1 should really consider becoming electric cars, challenge the engineers to massively improve the battery and benefit the road cars. Make an electric F1 that is faster than the current F1, that should be the goal of 2026!
Who would possibly watch that? Thank god Formula E have the rights for electric single seaters. Those that want to watch electric cars, tune in to that idiocy. F1 with electric only ''engines'' will ensure the sports entire fanbase will disappear.
I see FE as a pilot program. And seeing how many car manufacturers are already participating or are going to participate, you can see how popular electric car racing will be. I'm not sure the budget difference between a FE team and a F1 team, but I think with the bright mind and resources of F1, electric car development will be so much faster compared to FE.
I agree that they will co exist. But what is F1 standing for? Embracing the future or celebrating the past? If not enough teams/car manufacturers want to participate F1 then maybe F1 should change in a way to attract more car manufacturers.
If a electric F1 is faster than the current F1, and more interesting teams will join (e.g Porsche, BMW) I don't think the fan base will decrease.
FE has to develop to gain credibility - Allow more technical freedom to obtain more battery range, more power, etc ... - Race on circuits rather than in town, so the performance can be measured against ICE series. - Change the race format to something more inventive like having several short heats, 1/4 final, 1/2 final and the main race, for example.
Agree. And this thread is about 2026, still 5 years to go. I'm expecting big improvement of FE car performance in 5 years. F1 can push that further in a faster rate.
F1 could embrace the future by demonstrating the validity of alternative fuels (bio, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, etc..) in a new generation of ICE engines.
There was a different race happening over the last 25 or so years, laptops and phones wanted lighter and longer lasting batteries all this time. There really isn't that much more to get from these things. FE cars are so much slower than Formula 1, it's incomparable. They are slower than F3 cars. So to be as fast as current F1 cars, or even early 90s F1 cars...is a very, very long way off...and even so, I doubt you would get many people itnerested. I'm 100% convinced if F1 would go full electric route I could set up a ICE based ''GP1'' series that would get far more viewers.
Mercedes split turbo design with the MGU-H next to the compressor and the exhaust at the other end. Image Unavailable, Please Login
And that's on very small tracks. I do wonder how long a Formula E car will last on a proper race track at race speeds.
Development of batteries both in power and duration is what it's all about. That's the future of "motoring", if you can still call it that, in a nutshell.
At the moment ! Batteries haven't benefited from 120 years of constant development like the ICE had, but they are catching up pretty fast !
But the problem with that is, Lithium batteries are already near their end of development, they're already operating very close to their maximum specific energy. So all they can really do is extend range bit by bit by manipulating it with computers, but the gains at this point aren't much anymore. The only way to get significant more range is by simply fitting more batteries or invent a new battery altogether.
OK . . . . that's what I said. I'll also admit that for normal road use, especially in rural areas, high efficiency ICE engines still have a place in this world. So they won't be totally eliminated in spite of pledges by the likes of Jaguar that will go totally electric by 2025. Jaguar is small potatoes.