Williams Advanced Engineering has the FIA contract to supply Formula E Gen3 battery requirements across all teams. Their advanced features include a gross capacity of 47kWh. Although the batteries are also able to accept 600kWh from regenerative, or fast ‘attack’ charging. A Formula E traction battery caught fire at the Valencia racetrack on October 24, 2023 during the first day of trials.
Advanced Safety Precautions for Formula E Gen3 Batteries
A traction Formula E Gen3 battery benefits from superior accident, and fire protection in race cars as follows:
- Traction batteries are within the car safety frame behind the driver.
- They are bolted to the bottom so they are in a completely enclosed space.
- There are two holes at the top for flooding the battery during thermal runaway.
The incident began when a Formula E racecar came to a sudden stop during the third of three trial runs, without any driver intervention. The supporting team brought the vehicle back to the pits, where they removed the battery and placed it in the manufacturer’s pit box for inspection.
Some 90 minutes after the sudden stop, eyewitnesses report hearing “at least one small and muffled explosion sound” according to The Race website. Quite fortuitously, another team turned their cameras on at that moment, and recorded what happened next.
The Safety Responses Were Measured and Effective
There was no immediate fire alarm. However, the trials stopped and all, excluding responders, evacuated the pit buildings. The flames grew fiercer, until the responders rapidly suppressed the fire according to The Race website. Obviously the incident is concerning, although we should not overreact.
The FIA has an enviable safety record when it comes to traction batteries, and this is the first noteworthy incident. Something obviously over-strained the battery. We are curious to know whether this cause was a chemical reaction inside the battery case, a short circuit at the terminals, or another incident not involving the Formula E Gen3 battery.
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