Electric RACE cars set for streets of London

London has been chosen as one of the potential hosts of the Formula E Championship which will see an array of electric Formula cars take to the streets.

Other cities named in the preliminary calendar are Rome, Los Angeles, Miami, Beijing, Putrajaya, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Zero emission world class motor racing is a scintillating concept and I am hugely keen that London be involved in the birth of Formula E. It has the potential to highlight the impressive strides being made in the manufacture of electric vehicles and hosting a street race could also be of considerable economic benefit to our city.”


Since its launch in August 2012, FEH, the organiser of the championship, has received formal demonstrations of interest to host a race from 23 cities across five continents.

FEH intends to organise up to 10 races in 2014, the inaugural year of the championship. A further two slots will be kept free, to include two additional cities among those that have expressed interest.

The promoter has started working with the eight cities included in the calendar, to discuss all the specific elements involved in hosting a street race. The objective is to finalise formal agreements with the cities on or before July 1, 2013.

The final calendar will be presented to FIA for its approval at the September 2013 World Motor Sport Council.

With regards to teams, so far FEH has proposed two teams out of 10 to the FIA for the 2014 race, these are: the first British team – the FIA Formula E Team Drayson and the first official Chinese team-FIA Formula E Team China Racing.

In February 2013, the Italian company Dallara announced it would design the first Formula E cars and the first sketches have already been released. McLaren is designing and building the powertrain for the cars in a consortium with Spark Racing Technology (SRT), a new company led by French businessman Frederic Vasseur.

Formula E is an ‘open’ championship, it encourages car designers and constructors to build a Formula E car. The FIA technical regulations have set the framework for making such submissions possible.