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Williams Advanced Engineering to be sole supplier of battery technology to FIA Formula E Championship

Williams Advanced Engineering, the division of the Williams group that commercialises Formula One based technologies, is to partner with Spark Racing Technology to design and assemble a battery system for the 42 cars that will be used in the FIA Formula E Championship.

Spark Racing Technology was created in 2012 and is focused on the manufacture of the cars that will compete in the FIA Formula E Championship, the world’s first fully electric racing series that begins in 2014. Williams Advanced Engineering has signed an exclusive agreement with Spark Racing Technology and will be the sole supplier of battery technology to Formula E.

Williams’ battery energy storage capability first originated from its Formula One program following the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) into the sport in 2009. Under the Williams Advanced Engineering brand name, Williams is now active in developing both battery and flywheel energy storage systems for motorsport and non-motorsport applications. This has included developing a flywheel hybrid system for Audi’s Le Mans winning R18 e-tron quattro; a flywheel system for London buses with Go-Ahead Group; and a battery hybrid system for the Jaguar C-X75 supercar.

Energy efficiency is an important issue for Williams and whilst our work in this field is now spanning a number of market sectors beyond racing, motorsport will always be the ultimate proving ground for our technologies. Electric vehicles are becoming an increasingly important part of the automotive industry and Formula E is the perfect opportunity for Williams to validate the latest developments in battery technology.

—Sir Frank Williams, Founder and Team Principal of Williams

Comments

DaveD

Very interesting. I wonder why Williams would be going down both paths with their KERS and now full on EV's as well? I wouldn't have expected this.

DaveD

I was hoping Roger, EP and a couple of the other guys would see this one and weigh in.

I wonder if they're doing both flywheel and battery type KERS for technical or business reasons????

Engineer-Poet

No idea.  They do have different strengths, but without reading Williams' white papers or listening to technical talks I can't know what they're thinking.

bman

Not a good idea to have a standard battery.(Or engine or control system)Viva formulae libre."Let a thousand blossoms bloom" as chairman mao said. Racing is a fast and efficient way to help evolution of all components.(and war of course)

HarveyD

Would a combo:

1. smaller KERS + very high energy density batteries or/

2. ultra caps + very high energy density batteries

supply the energy required with less weight?

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