All-wheel drive EVs at 210 MPH? Formula E's next car gets upgrade | Hacker News Reader

All-wheel drive EVs at 210 MPH? Formula E's next car gets upgrade

arstechnica.com

26 pointsPaulHoule11 comments

>> We can still expect the cars to start the race with less energy than needed to get to the finish line

Is the intention here to force improvements to recharging capabilities? If i remember correctly, the rules allow competitors to switch cars entirely during the race, not just recharge or replace the battery. Seems like that undermines as expectated research / improvements to recharge technology.

They haven't switched cars for years. They just barely added mid-race recharging (a 34 second pit stop to add 10% charge) to add more strategy to the racing.

As a side note / curiosity, the world's fastest electric car had a top speed of 357 mph (574 km/h), I was just watching a video about it (and other cars) the other day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_DaGwTHlwE

I caught a race recently on TV and the "engine noise" is horrible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ovY8oSjDY Watching 20 cars together making this high pitch sound is more like a punishment than something enjoyable

I mentally wrote this comment off as petrol-head snobbery at first, but then clicked on the link and, well, wow. That sounds just like everyone's favourite sound, the dentist's drill.

Yeah, and while that video is 5 years old, more recent videos (<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jMcvb7she8>) still make it clear that hasn't changed (even if they try to mask it by playing music over it). I don't really think there's a way around it, though, electric motors spinning fast will just make that kind of sound.

That said, there's people who complain about F1 cars not sounding the same any more like they did back in the early 2000s (with the classic V10 engine), so even if the FE cars get modified in some way to change what they sound like there might be people complaining. Would be funny if for broadcast they replaced the FE sound with '60s V12 sounds, though.

EVs can sound very different than that. A good example of this is the McMurtry goodwood run where the car sounds like a space ship going to warp, in the best possible way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JYp9eGC3Cc

I can hear the audio editing when the car is about to make that dentist drill sound. Although, fan cars always sound pretty cool anyways.

I dont get it. Sounds fine to me and matches with expectations. I like it.

There is a wee bit of "dentist drill" at the very high frequency range. Makes my teeth hurt a little. Some people can't hear it so there's that.

Less intense but still there especially when decelerating.

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