FIA president Max Mosley wants electric hybrids banned in favor of mechanical KERS
Starting with the 2009 season. Formula One teams are allowed to use kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) to boost performance. Over the course of the 2008 season, most of the teams started testing a few different systems with varying degrees of success. Many of these hybrid systems proved problematic, not to mention expensive, to develop. The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) met in London this week to consider further cost reduction measures in the wake of Honda's abandonment of the sport. FIA President Max Mosely decided to weigh in with his own thoughts on the matter in a letter sent to FOTA members. Among those was his opinion on KERS implementation. Mosely expressed his feeling that the electrical systems, which are similar in principal to those used on road-going hybrids, should be banned from F1 in favor of purely mechanical systems. Mosely feels the battery technology available right now, primarily lithium ion, is unsuitable for the demands of F1 racing. Mosely doesn't explain precisely why he feels this is the case. Instead he says he prefers to see the development of mechanical, electro-mechanical and hydraulic systems. Whether any of this will have an effect, or even prompt teams such as BMW and Ferrari to abandon their development of battery hybrid KERS, is unclear at this point.
[Source: Formula1.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick 3:29PM (1/10/2009)
Mosley should have made up his mind BEFORE teams spent big $ on developing electrical systems. Turning it around now and changing the rules seems like a dick move.
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Tim 4:27PM (1/10/2009)
I LOVE the idea of electric cars, but I’ll try to be realistic here. Look at the application and the 2 choices.
1) High voltage electrical system with chemical batteries/ultracapacitors.
2) Spinning hunk of metal contained in a metal box.
If a car went off the track and hit a barrier, which would be more dangerous to EMT's and drivers? Which would be more likely to ignite spilled fuel or electrocute someone?
Because the way these cars are driven, their primary goal is to maximize efficiency by capturing and then reusing braking energy for short boosts in power. They are NOT trying to power these cars off the grid so this is NOT a good test bed for E-REVs or EVs.
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wisi 5:25AM (1/11/2009)
Well, those "spinning hunks of metal" have killed quite some people...
anyway:
1) It is about the amount of Energy in a system, which would be the same for either kind of KERS.
2) Systems with the same power availability tend to have the same "danger factor" - wether it is mechanical or electric. Just the kind of danger is different.
Never mind that if it is not an electromechanical system ( -> i.e. rotor of a switched reluctance motor) flywhels are not made of metal anymore. And the fiber-reinforced materials they are made of today tend not to break, but rather vaporize with a very big bang ;-)
ONE flywheel is in ANY CASE ABSOLUTELY UNSUITABLE for a F1 Car -> coriolis forces.
You might want to look for the films about Swiss flywheel powered busses... If the go down a curb, the buss takes almost forever to come down and hit the street ;-)
Or just ask yourself, why you can stay on your bike that easily and then think about an F1 going around a curve...
MIke!!ekiM 5:41PM (1/10/2009)
This is a Good Way to STOP Ultra-Capacitor Development. Maybe the Oil Industry is running scared. Look for some form of Payment. Of course, cash is hard to trace.
Anyway, F1 development should be about DEVELOPMENT, Free form development. Let's not pick the winner before the race starts.
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ale 12:13PM (1/11/2009)
Sure seems like they already do...
nick 7:37PM (1/10/2009)
Thanks for the update!
The mechanical drivetrain is probably simpler for the fomula-1 engineers to figure out.
I can see how the batteries can be a problem for racing. Battery assist isn't going to help that much because of the weight requirements, cooling/overheating danger, and the relatively low current output possible. Ultracapacitors are better suited for use in a formula car, however, even though they are lighter, they still take up a lot of volume. To make a ultra-capacitor hybrid work on a F1, they'll have to really reduce the size of their engine, and replace much of the lost hp with a strong electrical power-train. Obviously, doing so would really change the face of F1 racing, but it seems to me that type of car may be better suited for an entirely different race series.
So, in conclusion, I think that going with a mechanical KERS is a good move, and it will keep F1 racing competitive, exciting, and true to its roots. Maybe in the future, we'll see an all-EV or all-electro-hybrid circuit.
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John Rowell 8:19PM (1/10/2009)
Seriously, Max, why not let the teams choose their own technology? May the best technology win!
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stas peterson 10:57PM (1/14/2009)
Nascars response from back when.
Lets ban al these new fangled ideas like fuel injection and OHCs...
The original appeal of Nascar was you saw your own car model racing. The appeal for the automakers was free advertising, and a Performance Image. Now they are thin sheet plastic body replicas on a standard racing chasis and toys. Thsi is not STOCK car racing. Its no wonder the appeal has peaked and the automaker support has shriveled.
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mark 10:05AM (2/12/2009)
While that argument seems sensible to me too, most of the teams are actually going with battery driven units. (Of the ten teams, only Toyota and Williams have gone with the flywheel option.)
Or at least they were going down that road, until the sport's dear leader decided to change his mind almost a year into the developmental process - again. I suspect we'll be seeing battery powered KERS on the grid this year, or none at all.
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