TECH & AI
under the FIA umbrella, alongside Formula One but its purpose extends beyond sport and entertainment.“ We are fully focusing on climate change, renewable energy,” says Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer at Envision Racing.“ We try to use the Formula E platform to get people excited about what the future could look like.”
ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FORMULA E Of course in racing everyone wants to top the podium, but speed is not the only consideration in this sport.“ Formula E is all about energy efficiency,” Franz explains.“ If you start your race, you have to monitor your efficiency usage from the start until the last corner of the race, otherwise you don’ t finish. You don’ t want to be the most efficient team but the last on the track, so you have to find the best combination between efficiency, speed and use of technology.”
In Formula E, every car races on a fixed energy budget. Managing how, where and when that energy is used is the difference between winning, overtaking or running out on the final lap. Teams use the same chassis, batteries and tyres, so software needs to both optimise energy use and run efficiently itself.
Sylvain says:“ There is no other powertrain way of moving a vehicle around that is anywhere near as efficient as a pure electric vehicle. That’ s just a fact.” A good petrol or diesel engine achieves roughly 25 to 30 % efficiency under optimal conditions. A good electric road car, by contrast, operates at 80 to 85 % efficiency.
Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director and CTO, Envision Racing
74 March 2026