Electric storm

With the race for electrification in mobility in full swing, there is no more poignant time in history for motorsport’s speed of innovation and rapid product-to-market cycle times to be employed.

There’s a real rationale for electrified powertrain firms’ involvement in motor racing as it provides a fast track for high-performance driveline systems and a proving ground for the technology. Formula E has been the innovation centre for many OEMs since its inception and today, the evolution of the powertrain hardware and software is faster than ever.

Craig Wilson, race director at Jaguar Racing Formula E team, has been working in the automotive and motorsport arenas for decades, and has seen the targets of the sport mature in that time. The constructors he has worked with have changed their powertrain focus from internal combustion engines through to hybrids and full electric.

While electrification has been around for a long time, the recent drive for efficiency, forced in part by motorsport regulations, has brought about a massive acceleration in development operations to improve systems efficiency and performance.

Wilson believes there has never before been a time