Ricardo to Supply Transmission for 2020 Formula E Season

Recently, Ricardo has announced the launch of production of newly-designed transmission solutions for the ABB FIA Formula E Championship 2020. This statement manifests the start of the Ricardo’s 4-th season of providing its advanced car components to teams taking part in the most popular 100% electric street racing competitions.

Image of e-axle transmission system from Ricardo

Founded in 2012, this racing of motorsport competitions has become a so-called “laboratory” for R&D of electric vehicles, which helps to accelerate the popularization of environmentally-friendly driving technologies, and also serves as a strong driver of innovations and development in combination with the spirit of motorsport. The first official Formula E tournament took place in 2014 and rapidly gained popularity all over the world. Fans of motorsport consider this competition as something new and exciting, while automakers and manufacturers of auto components see it as a great opportunity to test in practice their new technologies before their implementation in standard passenger cars.

Learn more about Formula E powertrain technologies

Such world famous brands as BMW, Jaguar, Nissan, Audi are actively involved in this competition. Former eminent F1 drivers such as Jacques Villeneuve and Jarno Trulli seized the opportunity to compete in the new type of racing. In addition to the passion of competition, the street-racing format gives a great opportunity to the organizers of Formula E to show performance capacities of E-cars in some of the world’s most picturesque cities. Based on great R&D efforts, Ricardo’s contribution to Formula E keeps growing as the competition itself continues to scale new heights and attract more and more attention worldwide. In the new season Ricardo will supply its products to several teams.

The transmission efficiency plays a key role when it comes to chances in winning racing competitions, therefore Formula E team-participants have high expectations from the new transmission to be provided by Ricardo. Initially, Formula E cars were equipped with 5 speed transmissions, but now teams shift to more efficient single-speed gearboxes and a great deal of credit in this technical transition must go to Ricardo.

Cover of the September issue of Racecar Engineering magazine, where you’ll find more info on Ricardo’s contribution to the transmission development for Formula E 2020

According to the Ricardo representative, Formula E is not just a fascinating racing tournament, but also an important source of innovative solutions to the whole EV industry and Ricardo is happy to be an integral part of this development. Ricardo’s contribution to Formula E is a part of the company’s strategy in development of innovative products for E-vehicles. Ricardo is looking forward to the upcoming season and makes ambitious plans for the future.