Formula E: the electric single-seater world championship.

What Formula E is

Formula E is a championship for battery-electric, open-wheel single-seaters. Its full title is the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and the FIA lists it alongside Formula 1, the World Rally Championship and the World Endurance Championship among its world championships.

Wikipedia (secondary) says the first race was held in Beijing in September 2014, opening the 2014-15 season, and that the series became an FIA World Championship from 2020-21, the first single-seater series other than F1 to do so. Formula E's own explainer, checked for this page, did not state those two points, so treat them as Wikipedia's account.

Formula E counts its seasons by number as well as by years: Season 11 was 2024-25 and Season 12 was 2025-26. It also numbers each race as a "round", so a weekend with two races counts as two rounds. One small piece of history shows how electric racing opened doors: GrandPrix.com reports that Switzerland, which banned circuit racing after 1955, granted electric racing an exemption in 2015 that allowed Formula E to race in Zurich (2018) and Bern (2019).

The cars

Gen3 and Gen3 Evo

Formula E's cars come in generations. Wikipedia (secondary) dates the Gen3 car to 2022-23. Its Gen3 Evo upgrade, raced from 2024-25, added a stronger front wing, new and grippier Hankook tyres, and an active front powertrain that gives all-wheel drive in qualifying, at race starts and in Attack Mode. Season 12 (2025-26) was the fourth and last season of the Gen3 era, according to Wikipedia.

Gen4, from Season 13 (2026-27)

Formula E's official pages give these figures for the Gen4 car:

• 450 kW of power in normal race trim.
• 600 kW in Attack Mode, and in qualifying according to the Gen4 fact sheet.
• Up to 700 kW of regenerative braking, the energy the car recovers as it slows.
• A top speed of 335 km/h.
• All-wheel drive that Formula E calls "active" and available in every phase of the race. Some FIA pages and Wikipedia describe it as "permanent" all-wheel drive instead.

Formula E's explainer also says that from 2026-27 drivers who progress through the qualifying Duels will score points for doing so.

How a race is managed

Attack Mode

Attack Mode is a higher-power setting that drivers must use during the race. On the Gen4 car it lifts output from 450 kW to 600 kW. The number of activations required is set in the rules and can change: Wikipedia (secondary) says that in 2025-26, races that included a Pit Boost stop required Attack Mode to be used once rather than twice.

Pit Boost

Formula E's explainer describes Pit Boost as a mandatory fast-charging stop of about 30 seconds that adds 10% battery energy. The window to take it opens when the car's state of charge is between 40% and 60%. Wikipedia (secondary) adds that it was introduced in 2024-25 from the Jeddah ePrix and that no other work may be done on the car during the stop; those two details were not on Formula E's own page.

Points

Wikipedia (secondary) gives the race points as 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 for the top 10, with manufacturer points counting each maker's two best cars. It also lists 3 bonus points for pole and 1 for fastest lap (top-10 finishers only), but those bonuses could not be confirmed on Formula E's official page. Formula E runs separate titles for drivers, teams and manufacturers.

Recent seasons

2024-25 (Season 11)

Oliver Rowland (Nissan) won the drivers' title. Formula E says he clinched it at the penultimate weekend in Berlin, and Wikipedia (secondary) dates that to 13 July 2025, with two races still to run because the London finale was a double-header. Formula E's coverage of the London finale (27 July 2025, per Wikipedia) confirms that Porsche won both the teams' title, its first, and the manufacturers' title.

2025-26 (Season 12)

The season ran from the Sao Paulo ePrix on 6 December 2025 to the London ePrix on 16 August 2026, per Wikipedia (secondary). It had 17 races, a record according to Wikipedia, which Formula E numbers as 17 rounds; the London finale was Round 17.

Formula E's official race report says Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) sealed his second drivers' title at that finale, even though he finished outside the points in the last race. Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) won that race, his first Formula E victory, ahead of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara. Wehrlein had won the Saturday London race, Round 16, from pole. Jaguar TCS Racing won the teams' title, and Porsche the manufacturers' title, which it had already clinched in Tokyo.

Formula E's championship announcement gives the final top three as Wehrlein 169 points, Jake Dennis 164 and Mitch Evans 160, and says Wehrlein is only the second driver to win two Formula E titles, after Jean-Eric Vergne. Those figures come from search excerpts of the official pages rather than a full page read.

Drivers' champions since it became a world championship

From Formula E's official list of champions, with Season 12 from its 2026 report:

For how Formula E compares with Formula 1, IndyCar and the junior single-seater ladder, see open-wheel racing and Formula 1. The FIA's role across all of these is on our governing bodies page.