How Formula E is the “showcase” for your future electric car

Since reforming under the DS Penske name in 2022, three podiums in Season 9 and four in Season 10 to deliver a third-place finish in the standings show the steady progress made from a team ready to fight for the championship. Developing the Gen3 Evo car brought with it new opportunities for further improvement, as Franzetti explained. “The homologation of the car for Season 11 and 12 was open, so we had the opportunity to work on both sides, the hardware and the software.

“In terms of software, the evolution is global because now we have two engines [or motors] working together, not only in regeneration, but even in propulsion. The logic of the software is completely different, so we hope that we have filled the gap compared to the Porsche team and the Jaguar team.”

To close that gap, Franzetti outlined two key areas for improvement, the first being the efficiency of the power unit. “We need to be more efficient because last year we [were on the front row nine times] without winning. The car was very fast in qualification, but not enough during the race, especially in the last eight to ten laps because of the efficiency.

“So, we worked a lot to improve the efficiency of the car. This is the hardware and then a part of the software because it's due to the regeneration.”

The second target is a focus on drivability. “This is the gearbox. Drivability in terms of even the comfort of the driver. They have to have a more drivable car to feel more comfortable, to drive the car and to [deliver more] performance.”

Formula E is a spec series, meaning that all competing cars share the same chassis and battery. When it comes to things like the cost cap, Franzetti stressed this as a positive for both levelling the financial playing field and giving manufacturers opportunities to showcase capabilities in other areas.

“If you open [it up] to the battery, you go down in a black hole spending tonnes of money that is good if you have it, but I think that the success of the Formula E championship is the cost cap, the respect of the cost cap.

“In the respect of the cost cap you have, I think, one of the best balances, considering all the other championships, between the cost and the return of the investment because in Formula E you can showcase as a manufacturer what you are able to do – the power unit.”

There are seven manufacturers competing in Formula E in 2025 across 11 teams, and this year will see them fight for the inaugural manufacturers’ title, with the team coming under the Stellantis umbrella, along with the Maserati outfit. DS has existed as a luxury brand for 11 years and has participated in Formula E for a decade now. Its early entry into a growing sport was “a clever one” in Franzetti’s eyes, when it came to advancing both name recognition and technological capabilities.

“The decision was to use motorsport to boost the visibility and the awareness of the brand because it was a young brand […] and then to use the motorsport for research and development. With Formula E, you can showcase your ability in electrification in the electric cars.”

DS is set to become a fully electric brand, with road-going cars directly informed by learnings from the motorsport division, something that Stellantis’ Formula E Programme Director, Léo Thomas, stressed is unique to EVs.

“Quite often you can listen [to] normal motorsports saying there is a transfer [of technology], but it's purely a marketing message most of the time. For electric racing it’s actually true.

“While we are working on the motor and better software, we can use it in the road car, and there are a few nice technologies that we can use in Formula E so there is a proper transfer which we are benefiting from on both sides.”

Franzetti detailed some specific areas of information transfer from the track to the road: “The new generation of [road] cars that are coming are made with the experience that we did in the tenth season in the Formula E.

“With [the Formula E] car, the brakes are very small because we brake with the engines, and when you brake you recharge the battery. So, you will have the one pedal function in the new cars, you will have the capability to recharge the battery in the new car – all of this experience is coming from the motorsport. Everybody is doing that, but what the motorsport allows you is to do it quicker, faster than the others.

“We have boosted the electrification of the brand thanks to the motorsport. The engineers that are working on the car are sharing all this experience and are giving all the right suggestions to the engineers that are working on the road legal cars.”

This relationship between motorsport and road-legal vehicles is something DS stresses to its current and (perhaps more importantly) future customers because, according to Franzetti, “fans of Formula E are more engaged to buy electric cars from the manufacturers that are part of the championship.”

Its connection to Formula E gives the 3 E-Tense, currently DS’ only 100 per cent electric model, an emphasised selling point, drawing in those who are already fans of the sport or impressing the uninitiated. But you can expect the new DS 8, the company’s pure-electric answer to cars like the Mercedes EQE and BMW i5, to have an even stronger connection to the company’s electric racers when it launches next year. 

Over ten years, DS has maximised its involvement in Formula E, from race-infused technology to boost on the road, to using the sport as a flagship to grow a name in a crowded industry. 

“We have boosted the awareness of the brand thanks to the motorsport, thanks to the victories,” Franzetti said, “and then we have boosted the experience in terms of car manufacturer production of electric cars, in only ten years.”

“I think that it's a perfect showcase of how to use motorsport for a brand.”