I don't know if any of you have seen this, but it's pretty sweet. All aspects of the race are incredibly tech-ed out. There's a ton of footage on the site. The season appears to have just ended on the 27th - 2 of the events took place in the United States.
Just like all the big manufacturers participate in Le Mans, it would make total sense for makers of electric sports sedans to throw their efforts into the arena. And I can't imagine they weren't approached at some point, Tesla being pretty much the most talked about manufacturer of electric cars. It is of course possible that Tesla determined they don't have the finances for the sport (I don't know the degree of the expense, but as of now teams are using 2 cars per race, and they are super-charged via glycerine powered generators) but this would be a great opportunity to win people's hearts and establish their credibility amongst the unenlightened. (especially since they don't advertise!) Not to mention it would be an extension of their research and development efforts, whose discoveries could trickle down into their production cars.
The only car makers I recognize from the list of teams are Renault and Audi. The rest seem to be private and not-strictly-automotive (Virgin racing, Andretti) race teams. But that could just mean a chance to gain experience from the ground floor!
What do you people think? Should Tesla fund a racing team in Formula-E?
Just like all the big manufacturers participate in Le Mans, it would make total sense for makers of electric sports sedans to throw their efforts into the arena. And I can't imagine they weren't approached at some point, Tesla being pretty much the most talked about manufacturer of electric cars. It is of course possible that Tesla determined they don't have the finances for the sport (I don't know the degree of the expense, but as of now teams are using 2 cars per race, and they are super-charged via glycerine powered generators) but this would be a great opportunity to win people's hearts and establish their credibility amongst the unenlightened. (especially since they don't advertise!) Not to mention it would be an extension of their research and development efforts, whose discoveries could trickle down into their production cars.
The only car makers I recognize from the list of teams are Renault and Audi. The rest seem to be private and not-strictly-automotive (Virgin racing, Andretti) race teams. But that could just mean a chance to gain experience from the ground floor!
What do you people think? Should Tesla fund a racing team in Formula-E?
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