Have Your Say: Is The Future Electric?

[Alex72]

rF2 and Formula E:

 

[@apocapollo]

Yes.

It's going to happen. The general public is excited about it. Companies are excited about it. And our unborn children are going to be thankful that everyone's excited about.

The combustion engine has enjoyed a very fruitful career in motorsports. I'll be sad to see it go. But the fact of the matter is petroleum is extremely unsustainable - we've been talking about that for years.

It's in motorsport's best interest to not latch on to what is soon to be an antiquated technology. One of two things are inevitable, the internal combustion engine is going to be outlawed or purchasing fuel for it is going to be cost prohibitive. Do we still want our favorite racing series' to be reliant on petroleum at that point? It's long been theorized that a pattern of controversial decisions made by sanctioning bodies will ultimately be the death of motorsport - but I fear ignorantly refraining from preparing ourselves for the future is what's really going to do us in.

Enjoy your petroleum based cars and racing today. Live in the present. But I strongly encourage you to emotionally and strategically prepare for what our beloved sport will ultimately need in the future.

 

[protonv5]

Yes.

It's going to happen. The general public is excited about it. Companies are excited about it. And our unborn children are going to be thankful that everyone's excited about.

The combustion engine has enjoyed a very fruitful career in motorsports. I'll be sad to see it go. But the fact of the matter is petroleum is extremely unsustainable - we've been talking about that for years.

It's in motorsport's best interest to not latch on to what is soon to be an antiquated technology. One of two things are inevitable, the internal combustion engine is going to be outlawed or purchasing fuel for it is going to be cost prohibitive. Do we still want our favorite racing series' to be reliant on petroleum at that point? It's long been theorized that a pattern of controversial decisions made by sanctioning bodies will ultimately be the death of motorsport - but I fear ignorantly refraining from preparing ourselves for the future is what's really going to do us in.

Enjoy your petroleum based cars and racing today. Live in the present. But I strongly encourage you to emotionally and strategically prepare for what our beloved sport will ultimately need in the future.

Your comment is truly absurd. I'm sorry that you live with so much fear.
As I posted in another thread: LMP1 was doing just fine until it reached Hybrid technology then it failed.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

I certainly do not believe I will see it in my life time (so thankful) ...it may be the future, but feel it would take many many years to totally replace.

 

[protonv5]

rF2 and Formula E:

I thought this was about Formula E. It appears to be about a bald guy talking a lot.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Your comment is truly absurd. I'm sorry that you live with so much fear.
As I posted in another thread: LMP1 was doing just fine until it reached Hybrid technology then it failed.

I bet someone like you would've been saying that cars were a "fad" if you lived in the early 20th century.

 

[daww]

Electric will only be the future if battery technology improves dramatically....the future (in my opinion) is almost undoubtedly hydrogen.

Agreed, also remember that batteries are not very "green" if you factor in the digging and processing materials required. I remember reading somewhere that an EV has to drive over 125.000 km in order to be cleaner than an ICE car. Current battery tech only allows EVs to drive short distances so those 125.000 kms won't be met

 

[@apocapollo]

Your comment is truly absurd. I'm sorry that you live with so much fear.
As I posted in another thread: LMP1 was doing just fine until it reached Hybrid technology then it failed.

Why would you use hybrid engines as an example of why alternative power sources won't work for the future when there's very clearly a modern day open-wheel series that's already found success using solely electricity?

 

[cpt_gandy]

people are petrol heads for a reason, they are not battery heads. that about covers it for me.

oh i was not to impressed with Formula E but i can understand the need for it.

 

[randMracer]

I don't like it even though they are fast. The Nio EP9 broke the world lap record at Nordschleife in May of this year. All they need to do is stick loudspeakers out the ass with V8 sounds to drown out that horrible whining.

I don't think combustion engines will ever go away, there's too much history involved. When we start syphoning petrol like Mad Max then it might be different, but until then I think we'll be ok.

 

[kedy89]

I'd rather watch one of the post 2000 F1 procession races on Youtube than Formula E. Tried it a few times, but it was just plain dull. Got nothing to do with the things I love about racing and motorsports.

If that's the future of motorsports, then I'm out.

 

[apex11]

If electric is the future of motorsports, then audiences are the past of motorsports.

Nope the audience who will be dead or senial buy the time electric motorsport is the norm will be its past and they won't care as they will be selling cars and the dream to a whole new audience, many of which haven't even been born yet....

 

[larre90]

Endurance-Series will never become electric.

Though, e-Power isn't that green at all. Just do a little research what chemicals and other enviromental poison are used to build the batteries for that cars. Still, there's another problem: The durability of the batteries. The amount of possible loading-capacity will decrease a few percent every time you go recharge it. It will only become popular a few decades, before poeple get to know about the problems. I can imagine, how expensive it would be to get a new battery in it or to expose it after all.

It will be the same way the Diesel is going. Now, everyone gets exited, nobody cares about the problems or will say "Uh, it's just a matter of time to get rid of the problems". Nope, it would not. In 40 years, there will be another scandal like the one we have now with Diesel and cartel-agreements. And that would be the end of electric motorsports as well.

 

[travzy]

I've tried watching formula E on multiple occasions, I don't know if it's the noise or lack of or something else, either way for some reason something is missing

I don't think this should be or can be compared to F1 but more F3 simple because the cars only have a max speed of what 146mph ?

Is it a motor sport of the future only time will tell

Is it for me the answer is NO at least not for now

 

[JPL083]

A BIIIG NO!

 

[apex11]

Endurance-Series will never become electric.

Though, e-Power isn't that green at all. Just do a little research what chemicals and other enviromental poison are used to build the batteries for that cars. Still, there's another problem: The durability of the batteries. The amount of possible loading-capacity will decrease a few percent every time you go recharge it. It will only become popular a few decades, before poeple get to know about the problems. I can imagine, how expensive it would be to get a new battery in it or to expose it after all.

It will be the same way the Diesel is going. Now, everyone gets exited, nobody cares about the problems or will say "Uh, it's just a matter of time to get rid of the problems". Nope, it would not. In 40 years, there will be another scandal like the one we have now with Diesel and cartel-agreements. And that would be the end of electric motorsports as well.

Nope of that matters, none of what we mortals think matters, what matters is the car makers making vast amounts of money. If they feel they are simply racing for the sake of it they will leave and go to the place where its relevant to develop tech and brand awareness.
I can't understand how people can be so blinded by their knee jerk reactions to not see how much the motorsport landscape has cahnged over the years and for the most part it just gets a new audience, BTCC used to be better, WTCC used to be better, F1 used to be better (people have been saying it was better before since the first ever season many moons ago most likely).

In fact i'll go further Motorsport is pretty dead on its arse, the club racing scene is dying as well.
It won't take much to transplate it all with electric racing, race trcks will start hosting races and phase out petrol race cars becasue the other issue for race tracks in fact the bigggest one is the noise levels.
None of the people born before 2010 will be happy about this, i'm certainly not, but as a racing fan i'm starting to accept it for what it is enjoy what we have currently as it will be 10-20 years before we see massive changes, but it's coming to and end and the kids born after 2010 will be the new audience and they will know not much different.....

What people really need to stop being so dense about is how raw the first F1 cars were compared to 50 years later, 50 odd years ago they were racing on roads and air fields, now imagine in 50 years time what electric race cars could look and perform like. Short sighted blinkered views on this topic won't help anyone, racing is racing IMO, i can even enjoy the Tour De France and Usian Bolt as i like to see people race, yes the noise of engines turn me on, but if they go then i will still watch racing.... open your minds.

 

[anthony monteil]

Clearly, electric cars have nothing to do with motorsport. This Formula E represents the end of motorsport and they'd better stop this joke as soon as possible before sponsors and audience disappeared totally...

I can't see this "excitation" about electric race cars anywhere. This is just pure virtual hype on the net, but the FE grandstands remain almost empty., and the TV audience, well LOL...

All the race events, rally, hillclimbs I'm going almost each week-ends, people just don't want to hear about it, and they see it coming as the worse thing that ever happened in motorsport history.
OK, you got it, it's an absolute NO, NEVER, EVER !

 

[anthony monteil]

.

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

It's not the future, @Paul Jeffrey.

 

[joe pineapples]

You get some tracks in F1 which lack atmosphere, but Formula E carries that lack of atmosphere to each and every track with the cars themselves.