Formula E 2014. Round 1. Beijing. Race!

[scheides]

Holy shit the end was insane!!! Did not see that coming, freaking lucky nobody was hurt!!!

[asshanson]

Seems pretty cool, I enjoyed watching that. The ending was definitely epic, it looks like the first place driver swerved to avoid being passed, but instead caused the accident.

[Tachyon]

Speaking of the finish, looks like the apple did not fall far from the tree in the Prost family line..

[Grappler]

That was fun to watch

[JET]

Electric motors get an advantage from gearboxes just like regular engines. They have a limited RPM ceiling also. Looks cool, hopefully this takes off!

[Halon]

Electric motors can have full torque throughout their entire RPM range, so unlike a standard car that needs a gear box to keep them in the ideal range, an electric car (like a Tesla Model S) doesn't necessarily need them. So I too wonder why they're using gear changes. Maybe based on whatever gear reducer they're using, the motors just aren't rated at enough RPM. I'm sure it was all figured out by someone 100x smarter than me so there's a good reason I'm sure.

[Tachyon]

Electric motors can have full torque throughout their entire RPM range, so unlike a standard car that needs a gear box to keep them in the ideal range, an electric car (like a Tesla Model S) doesn't necessarily need them. So I too wonder why they're using gear changes. Maybe based on whatever gear reducer they're using, the motors just aren't rated at enough RPM. I'm sure it was all figured out by someone 100x smarter than me so there's a good reason I'm sure.

Gearing multiplies your vehicle's wheel thrust. even at 400 LBS of engine TQ, if there was no force multiplication, the vehicle would be going nowhere fast.

Take a 2014 Tesla Model S 85. Its electric motor is rated at 443lbs of TQ. They then multiply that by a 9.73:1 drive gear, so suddenly the car is off the line at a more reasonable 4200 lbs of thrust (assuming a fairly standard 25" diameter wheel). With electric motors, typically they lose efficiency the faster you spin them.

I would suspect that formula E cars, the could be running gear ratios in the neighborhood of 20:1, which will eat up 16,000 of engine RPM in just a few KPH, and be required to gear down for more speed.

[cmspaz]

That was fun to watch
You watched it here at the office too? :D