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Frenchman Alain Prost - a four-time Formula 1 World Champion - says Formula E and electric cars are set for a prosperous future with support from major car manufacturers.
Prost recently teamed up with Jean-Paul Driot of DAMS to create the e.dams outfit, which will enter a team in the new FIA Formula E championship.
After seeing the Spark-Renault SRT_01E in action for the first time during a tire test at the Circuit Issoire near Clermont-Ferrand, Prost said he believed Formula E could be the ideal platform for car makers to demonstrate their electric technology, especially when the power units rules open up in season two.
“The constructors are waiting for the final regulations, but if everything is correct it's going to become a good platform for constructors,” Prost said.
The 51-time F1 race winner also backed the championship's street track-only calendar.
“We need to do something different. F1 and the other disciplines race on the normal race tracks, you cannot attract the same kind of people and I think that was the best way to be in the centre of the cities where the electrical cars normally are,” he added.
“You don't need only to drive the car, you need to think a little bit. You need to manage the energy and this kind of thing. It's a new way of motor racing. It's going to be short to start with, but it's going to get longer and longer as we go on as that is part of the challenge.
“We are very optimistic when you see the technology of the batteries in the next few years, we are optimistic that it's going to get better and better. And that's also the key, we are going to show the people outside that this technology is making progress very quickly.”
Prost recently teamed up with Jean-Paul Driot of DAMS to create the e.dams outfit, which will enter a team in the new FIA Formula E championship.
After seeing the Spark-Renault SRT_01E in action for the first time during a tire test at the Circuit Issoire near Clermont-Ferrand, Prost said he believed Formula E could be the ideal platform for car makers to demonstrate their electric technology, especially when the power units rules open up in season two.
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| Emmanuel Collard performing tire tests aboard the Formula E car. (Photo: FIA Formule E) |
“The constructors are waiting for the final regulations, but if everything is correct it's going to become a good platform for constructors,” Prost said.
The 51-time F1 race winner also backed the championship's street track-only calendar.
“We need to do something different. F1 and the other disciplines race on the normal race tracks, you cannot attract the same kind of people and I think that was the best way to be in the centre of the cities where the electrical cars normally are,” he added.
“You don't need only to drive the car, you need to think a little bit. You need to manage the energy and this kind of thing. It's a new way of motor racing. It's going to be short to start with, but it's going to get longer and longer as we go on as that is part of the challenge.
“We are very optimistic when you see the technology of the batteries in the next few years, we are optimistic that it's going to get better and better. And that's also the key, we are going to show the people outside that this technology is making progress very quickly.”