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Porsche will join Formula E bandwagon in 2019

Porsche dropped its LMP1 in favor of Formula E.

Autodeal on Jul 31, 2017

Barely a week after Mercedes-Benz made their announcement, Porsche revealed that it plans to join the 2019/20 Formula E season as well. This move by the German brand is in-line with its Mission E project, which aims to produce their 1st ever fully-electric sports car.

Related: Mercedes-Benz to join Formula E Championship in 2019

Formula E

Formula E is the world’s 1st fully-electric race series. Each race takes place on specially designed street circuits around the world to bring the sport to its fans. As of this writing, the 2019/20 season will have a total of 24 racers driving for 12 teams with 2 cars each.

Porsche will be the 4th car manufacturer from Germany to participate in the electric race series. They will be joining other brands from the same country including Audi, BMW, and most recently Mercedes-Benz.

Porsche is working with alternative, innovative drive concepts. For us, Formula E is the ultimate competitive environment for driving forward the development of high-performance vehicles in areas such as environmental friendliness, efficiency, and sustainability.

Michael Steiner
Member of the Executive Board of Porsche AG responsible for Research and Development

Unfortunately, the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer will have to end its participation at the LMP1 class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) next year to focus on Formula E. On the flip side, the same team that has brought 4 successful years—including 3 consecutive wins at the 24 hours of Le Mans—will be retained to help Porsche prepare for Formula E and other race series they will venture into.

Mission E

Although it’s still in its development stages, the Porsche Mission E sports car will have 4 individual seats, 4 doors, and an all-electric motor with 500-km range. Performance wise, it’s listed to have 600 hp, a top speed of 250 km/h, and can go 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds. The best thing about this sports car of the future is its charging time of 15 minutes via Porsche’s Turbo Charging station or conventional outlets.