Audi is looking into starting the 2021 Formula E season with the e-tron FE07 which is scheduled to start from January at Santiago next year. It gets an all-new powertrain which is completely developed by Audi. The drivers for the season are last as the last season, Lucas di Grassi and René Rast.
The new powertrain is 95% more efficient than that of last year, as said by Audi. They had finished 6th last year, though their powertrain did not perform as they would have liked. Taking that results of last year in mind, they decided to develop a new powertrain to be more competitive and give more fight this season. Named, MGU05 this powertrain has been under development internally for quite some years and now it is all ready to unleash its full potential on the track.
The COVID-19 has impacted manufacturers’ finance to a great extent and thus Formula E has introduced a slew of cost-saving measures. Among one is altering the powertrain once in two years. This means the teams can come up with a new powertrain from the 7th season or they can come up with a new powertrain in the forthcoming seasons.
As evident from last year races, the most crucial parameter in Formula E powertrain is its efficiency. There were numerous instances where drivers lost energy just a few meters before the finish line. This time around, Audi has taken the utmost care in this regard and developed the MGU05 which is 95 percent more efficient. The inverter unit has an overall efficiency of more than 97 percent in all possible driving conditions. The inverter unit weighs just under 35 Kg thus making a deadly combination of high performance and low weight. The use of lightweight materials and ingenious integration of components of the vehicle makes it a very lightweight car. As compared to Formula 1 cars which need to have a maintain a minimum weight of 746Kg, their counter par Formula E cars’ minimum weight is 903Kg.