The FIA, the governing body of motorsport, has presented the first technical regulations for electric sports vehicles. These are electric vehicles closely related to road-going production electric vehicles and are used for national and regional level competitions.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) presented the new technical regulations for electric sports vehicles late last week after they were approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
The new regulations cover both technology and safety as well as performance management for relevant categories and are intended to enable manufacturers to offer competitive vehicles and to keep adjustments to roadworthy production models to a minimum.
Similar to Group N rally vehicles, the new FIA ESV regulations are open to both grand touring vehicles and four-door sports sedans in coupé form with a maximum chassis height of 1460 mm.
Minimal adjustments can be made to the body shape to “remain basically the same, with the exception of the ability to expand the wheel arches to accommodate wider racing tires and additional cooling ducts”.
To achieve weight savings, selected body parts such as the tailgate, doors, rear wing and diffuser can be replaced with equivalent parts made from lightweight materials that still have to retain their original shape.
“The FIA ESV regulations react very strongly to the demands of the market,” said Lutz Leif Linden, President of the FIA GT Commission.
“With this set of technical regulations, manufacturers’ customer sport departments can offer competitive variants of their electric cars, which should represent a significant revenue stream similar to GT3.” It may even open the door for them to create their own brand series.
“The fact that the regulations are comprehensive and take into account four-door models reflects the latest trends in the road car market. We are already seeing that several manufacturers have sporty four-door grand coupés in their ranges.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing on climate change, clean technology and electric vehicles for over 15 years. Since 2012 he has reported on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven. His preferred means of locomotion are his feet.
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