Formula 1 Racing to Go Hybrid from 2009-2013
It’s not quite the same type of hybrid drive-train you’d see in street vehicles, but in an exciting announcement, Max Mosely of F1 has announced that all cars will become hybrid by 2013, along with other changes to the vehicles.
The hybrid system that will be phased in is known as KERS, which stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. KERS doesn’t store as much energy as a traditional hybrid system, but it only weighs 55 pounds and the limited energy storage capacity is well suited for Formula-style racing.
The biggest difference between KERS and a regular battery-electric hybrid is that KERS stores recovered waste energy in a rotating flywheel. Instead of converting waste energy into electricity and than back into useful energy again with an electric motor, KERS simply transfers the kinetic energy to a ~5kg flywheel in the F1 car’s transmission. The energy stored in the flywheel can then be used by the driver by pushing a “boost” button.
KERS is particularly exciting for us regular car drivers because the creators have claimed that it is twice as efficient as a standard hybrid system. If this system can be applied to production vehicles, it will be possible to realize huge improvements in fuel economy and pretty respectable reductions in GHG emissions.
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Wasn’t there going to be a halt on engine development on F1 engines for the next 10 years or something?
I remember seeing a kinetic energy storage / boost concept a couple of years back… don’t know whatever happened to it…
the concept basically used a half empty hydraulic tube / pump on a truck ( under the truck, in the center, close to the drive shaft )
whenever you braked, the fluid in the tube would rush to the rear of the truck / tube… and thus some energy was stored…
and when you accelerated again, the stored kinetic energy was released to help speed up…
maybe it was a GMC Denali concept, but I’m not sure…
Taking James’ comments to their logical end, there would be only three or four teams in Formula 1. I think that would be far less exciting to watch. Whether or not a common ECU is a good idea is certainly debatable, but the parade-like racing people decry in F1 these days would only worsen if teams operated without restriction.
I think you might enjoy a series without drivers using robotic/automated cars better than watching F1. Certainly the technology is unparalleled in F1, but the fact that a human still has to pilot the thing is what makes it compelling. I applaud the removal of traction control, etc. for that very reason. The car should be a challenge to drive.
Incidentally, to other onlookers, F1 cars introduced a KERS-like system nearly 10 years ago…it was banned despite being a great idea. It worked on the braking system rather than the transmission…gave cars a huge advantage accelerating out of slow corners. They also introduced things like sequential (tiptronic) gearboxes that most of us now enjoy, and the active suspension systems on many nicer cars…in the 1980’s. THAT is what makes F1 so intriguing.
F1 shouldn’t be concentrating on green technology, they should be creating more opportunities for the car companies to manufacture new technology to make the cars go round the track faster… It’s like saying to a runner to not wear shoes in a race…
If F1 were serious about remaining the peak of racing and tech, and not turning into a spec series, and was also serious about wanting to “go green,” the solution is easy: 1) cap the amount of fuel a team is allowed on a given race weekend and for testing; 2) cap the allowable pollution. Do that, eliminate the std ECU and std tires (and impending std aero, etc), and you are done.
DJ
its interesting that domestic car manufacturers have not picked up on this technology. Does it actually work?
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danielwhite, you are mistaken, this is not a green technology, it is a performance enhancement.
It just makes the cars faster. It doesn’t reduce pollution at all.
It might become a green technology if it gets applied to regular cars as a way to compensate for the loss of power caused by using smaller (and therefore greener) engines.
I personally think it will be a longer time for them to go this route as there won’t be 100% agreement
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