Crazy acceleration & longer races: Formula E CEO Dodds reveals details of the Gen4 era

All-wheel drive, maximum 600 kW output and 700 kW recuperation: The new technology from the public technical data known from the Formula E Gen4 car promise a significant performance boost in 2026. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds has now revealed more details about the actual performance of the future cars. The races are also set to be longer.

"Battery technology and power trend technology are developing so quickly that it feels like we're only in the early stages of the technology," explains the Briton in an interview for the Saudi Public Investment Funds (PIF) as part of the announcement of the "Electric 360" project.

"When we started this series ten years ago, you actually had to stop halfway through the race to change the car," he says, referring to the history. "In two to three years, we will have the next, fourth (car) generation. We expect these cars to reach 100 km/h in less than two seconds." This would be a significant step forward, as the current vehicles still need around 2.8 seconds to sprint to 100 km/h.

Dodds hopes for 75 minutes of racing action

The Gen4 cars are also expected to set new standards for Formula E in terms of range. The battery developed by Podium AT with its 55 kWh capacity should enable significantly longer races. "Our races today last around 45 to 50 minutes," continues Dodds. "We hope that we will then be able to drive races lasting up to 1:10 hours or 1:15 hours."

#PIF's Electric 360 is accelerating the transition towards E-mobility.
Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E, discussed how Formula E is helping to create a more sustainable future. pic.twitter.com/aqwI8nV2Q8

- Public Investment Fund (@PIF_en) January 31, 2024

A race of this length would be uncharted territory for the series: the longest race to date without a red flag (the penultimate race of the Gen1 era in New York City in 2018) lasted 1:02:30 hours. In the Gen2 era, races lasted 45 minutes plus one lap by definition.

From the seventh season onwards, there was an "extra time" to compensate for safety car and full-course yellow phases. The longest uninterrupted race with the Gen3 cars to date was at the 2023 season opener in Mexico City.

Race interruptions included, the longest Formula E race to date was the 2023 season finale in London: the race lasted more than two hours due to a rain interruption. The shortest race, on the other hand, was in New York City in 2022, when the race organisers stopped the E-Prix after 35:04 minutes due to torrential rain.

Average race length per season