Porsche at Formula E in Berlin

In years to come, 2019 will be talked about at Porsche with the same reverence as 1948. For while the company is celebrating the 70th anniversary of Porsche sports cars this summer, many an eye in Zuffenhausen is already firmly focussed on next year and the arrival of everything ‘E’.

Appearing alongside our first all-electric road car is another brand-new venture for Porsche Motorsport: Formula E. The electric single-seater series has been evolving rapidly since its debut in 2014, and next year will see a new car and a raft of major manufacturers entering the championship with an eye to developing their emission-free tech for both road and race track. And Porsche will be firmly among them. One of the driving forces behind Formula E is accessibility, locating the races in the centres of major cities around the world. For Berlin, the venue is the surprisingly central Tempelhof airport, a now decommissioned Deco site used as a location for concerts and exhibitions.

The format for Formula E is unusual at this level of motorsport. The car and battery unit are provided to the competitors, who must then develop a bespoke powertrain and the complex ancillaries such as inverter, brake-by-wire system, transmission, diff and driveshafts.