The first few seasons of the all-electric Formula E championship have been more successful than most motorsport fans would have ever predicted.
Over the past few months, it managed to convince Audi and BMW to take spots for future seasons and this week, Mercedes-Benz has now announced that it will have its own team.
While all those premium automakers are joining the Formula E, Tesla has been surprisingly staying away from the all-electric championship despite being a leader in the development and commercialization of EVs.
Earlier this year, BMW announced plans to enter the Formula E in season 5 with its own team while earlier this month, Audi confirmed that they are taking over the ABT Sportsline team, which they had been sponsoring in prior seasons.
Yesterday, Mercedes-Benz announced that it will also join the Formula E under its own team, but during season 6 in 2018-2019.
Dr Jens Thiemer, Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz, said that they will use the championship to showcase their new electric ‘EQ’ subbrand:
“Mercedes-Benz will market future battery powered electric vehicles using the EQ label. Formula E is a significant step in order to demonstrate the performance of our attractive battery powered electric vehicles, as well as giving an emotional spin to our EQ technology brand through motorsport and marketing.”
With Mercedes now on board, all 3 of Germany’s main premium automakers have now secured spots in the all-electric racing championship.
And that’s just as things are about to get even more interesting when it comes to the technology behind the Formula E. While teams were forced to use the same vehicles in the first seasons, they are now allowed to modify the electric motors, inverter, and transmission. Approved manufacturers with teams in the 2018-2019 season will be able to tweak their vehicles and it will not be only about the drivers and race management anymore.
It would certainly be interesting to see what Tesla could do with a race car under those rules, but the company has stayed quiet on the motorsport front.
Formula One champion Nico Rosberg recently tweeted that he had meetings with Tesla, which sparked speculation that the company could be looking to get into motorsports:
Head some great meetings at Tesla today #siliconvalley pic.twitter.com/ezBcbPDko4
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 20, 2017
But as far as we know, it remains only speculation at this point.
What do you think? You’d like to see Tesla join the Formula E or you want them to just focus on consumer vehicles? Let us know in the comment section below.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments