This weekend’s race in the picturesque city of Cape Town is the second of three new venues introduced to the Season 9 calendar – following Hyderabad, India and ahead of São Paulo, Brazil.
The high-voltage action of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place this Saturday, for the fifth round of the 2023 campaign, on the city streets of the Green Point sports arena. A 12-turn racecourse of 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) featuring long, straight sections, is expected to make this track one of the season’s fastest.
The location promises to be among the most dramatic and memorable yet to host ABB Formula E, its oceanside placement boasting the iconic backdrop of Table Mountain and proximity to Robben Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site where ABB microgrid and wireless technologies integrate solar energy with existing electrical infrastructure to promote sustainable tourism.
Cape Town’s race, the culmination of intensive planning development since 2019, arrives at a crucial point in the championship. The season’s first three races finished with Gen3 cars powered by Porsche, an ABB partner in e-mobility initiatives, on the top steps of the podium, and Pascal Wehrlein, driving for TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E, leading the championship by a comfortable 18-point margin over Jake Dennis of the Avalanche Andretti team.
That trend shifted markedly in Round 4, when two-time champion Jean-Éric Vergne won in Hyderabad for DS Penske, wielding a masterful display of energy management and tactical driving to hold off the Jaguar-powered Envision of Nick Cassidy.
The speeds possible on the Cape Town course will test the limits of the Gen3 cars, which have proved to be reliable through the opening races. Now capable of a 320 kilometer per hour top speed (200 mph) courtesy of a boost to 350 kilowatts peak output (470 horsepower) and other improvements, the cars are also more efficient than ever. New components have doubled the energy recovery capability, so 40 percent of the energy used in-race is produced through regeneration under braking.
On-site in Cape Town – the Mother City to locals – ABB will be keeping the batteries of the Gen3 cars in peak condition for every team. In its role as official charging partner of Formula E, ABB is responsible for refreshing the batteries of all 22 cars prior to each practice and qualifying session and most important, ahead of every race.
To accomplish this, ABB developed new fast-charging hardware that prioritizes reliable service, compact dimensions and light weight – all vital requirements for meeting the demands of the planet-straddling series. The mobile chargers, which deliver charging rates up to 160 kilowatts, can service two cars simultaneously, reducing the amount of support gear that must travel with the cars between races.
Beyond the race track, energy management at every E-Prix venue is made more efficient this season by the deployment of ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® energy management software. The solution helps maximize efficiency by giving engineers the ability to monitor and analyze total energy output and usage at race sites.
Innovations pioneered in the Formula E program are valuable for the benefits they can bring to consumers. The expertise developed in motorsports, and as a global leader in DC fast charging, is likewise reflected in ABB E-mobility’s introduction of Terra Home chargers for EV owners. Among its benefits is the capability to automatically prioritize the use of electricity from renewable sources, a key pathway to assuring the sustainability of electric vehicles. The Terra Home also brings features like Plug N Charge, which provides instant recognition between car and charger as well as interactive lighting to indicate charging status. A cloud connection between the Terra Home and ABB E-mobility makes remote servicing of the charger quick and efficient.
The Cape Town E-Prix is not only an important debut for Formula E, it also marks the return of World Championship open-wheel racing to South Africa after a 30-year hiatus. Continuing the trend of first-time race locations, the sixth race of Season 9 takes place in São Paulo, Brazil, before the campaign travels to Germany and Monaco for the next three rounds. In June, the series travels to the U.S. for its first race in Portland, Oregon, and the season concludes in July with decisive double-header races in Rome and London.
