Formula E have completed its four-day pre-season testing for Season 11. The infamous Attack Charge – renamed to Pit Boost – was in use again and tested after huge issues in the last season. It‘s being reported that it was mostly a success but difficulties still emerged.
According to a report from The Race, the Pit Boost was used during a mock race on the final day of testing. The outlet was told by FIA‘s Pablo Martino that the governing body had noted “many, many things across the exercise” and that the mock race was “valuable for the teams, but also valuable for the FIA“.
“It’s always good to put everything in place in the most similar to a race condition, in order to extract as much learning as possible,” he added. “So, now we have to analyse everything we have seen.”
The mock race begun with a two-by-to launch of individual starting rows, with the new all-wheel-drive (AWD) being enabled. Once the rechargeable energy store system (RESS) State-of-Charge (SOC) value was within in the desired window, the Pit Boost was enabled.
A recharge pitstop had a minimum time of 34 seconds. Once the pitstop was done, drivers were allowed to use the Attack Mode. It totalled eight minutes through two activation points.
“There were four instances [of issues]. One of the instances was corrected because one pitted again and did a second charge,“ Martino said. “There were a couple of problems, but not related [in issue] among them.”
The Race discovered that issues occurred on Norman Nato‘s Nissan. He experienced a nine-second loss on his stop with the problem being the plug for the Pit Boost. It‘s being inserted into the back of the car to recharge energy. Nissan were forced to re-insert the plug and restart the charging.
DS Penske ran into issues on both their cars. It is believed that the issues were related to the cable function of the charger. The cables were located in an area outside their respective pits. Tyre changes are allowed but not during a charging phase.
11 cars – which equals 50 percent of the grid – pitted at the same time during the mock race. This was a pre-organised scenario, aiming to test the Pit Boost infrastructure. The Fortescue Zero company – formerly known as Williams Advanced Engineering – supplies it.
There are speculations that the inaugural event at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit could be the debut of the Pit Boost. The opening race at São Paulo is less likely to use it due to the pit area being of a horseshoe design, so the pits face each other. Mexico City would be more suitable but Jeddah is felt to be better, since it‘s going to be a double-header event.
“We have a commission that is the body that is deciding all these kinds of decisions that are key for a championship,” said Martino. “The FIA and Formula E have regular meetings on the Formula E commission. So, probably on the next meeting that is scheduled for next week, we will have some decisions on this and on which races could be implemented.”
When asked by The Race if the Jeddah double-header could be the debut event of the Pit Boost stops, Martino said that it was “something we need to decide together with Formula E. Mexico or Jeddah would be the first time that we could see this implemented during a race,” he added. “But yes, it makes sense to have it at a double-header.”
Formula E testing is completed with only one month to go until the electric series goes racing again. Season 11 starts on 7 December for the São Paulo E-Prix.
