Cost details for new FE car revealed

Next season the electric racing category will introduce a new chassis powered by a McLaren Applied Technologies battery designed to complete a full race distance.

FE and motorsport's governing body are committed to "protecting" smaller teams amid a swathe of current and impending manufacturer entries from the likes of Audi, Jaguar, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche.

The FIA has now revealed a revised registration procedure for the next three FE seasons, which includes a full breakdown of the cost of each FE car and a revised deadline for independent teams to strike a deal with a manufacturer to use its powertrain.

It has been determined that the total cost of a "ready-to-race" FE car will not exceed €817,300, with powertrains capped at €250,000.

The new-for-2018/19 halo device will cost €12,700, while the spec battery and Spark-built chassis are priced at €200,000 and €299,600 respectively.

The new prices represent a serious commitment to keep costs from escalating amid manufacturer competition, with teams owning the cars for the first time instead of leasing them, as per the present arrangement, and the total costs now lower than before.

This is because teams will need to use half the number of powertrains, batteries and chassis as before, which offsets the various increases in the cost of each individual component.

The cost of a powertrain for the current 2017/18 campaign had been set at €150,000 per unit and €600,000 in total (plus spares), compared to €500,000 now.

A total car for 2017/18 was marked up as €480,000, and though this makes the new one €337,300 more expensive on its own teams will save more than €150,000 overall by buying two instead of four.

Teams have until January 15 to "contract with the manufacturer", with the total per car topped up by a €55,000 administration fee.

Manufacturers can still be approached for a powertrain supply after this date, but they are not obliged to accept - it is understood the deadline was brought forward, from March 28, to give manufacturers more time to produce components in the event of additional deals being agreed later.

They have also been given an extra month, until October 1, to complete their allotted 15 days of private testing, while manufacturers supplying more than one team get 22 days of running.

The peak power output of the new FE cars is expected to rise from 200kW to 250kW, with battery capacity up from 28kWh to 54kWh, and during testing the prototype is understood to have already outpaced the existing model.