This Is Everything New Fans Should Know About Formula E Racing In 2025

I said back in December that Formula E is the best racing on the planet, and with the series' return to the Miami E-Prix, I'm going to continue to stand behind that. IndyCar comes close, but F1 is a pass-free slog fest at least half the time, and endurance sports cars are great but the races are way too long and races are still far too often decided on pit strategy. If you want flat-out from lights to checkers from some of the best drivers in the world in an exciting space-ship looking race car, you want to watch Formula E. This series really has it all, and packs an entire race weekend into a single day. It's bonkers, and I love it. 

For the uninitiated, Formula E is an FIA-sanctioned open-wheel series with propulsion solely by electric motors instead of internal combustion engines. Now in its eleventh season, the series has really come into its own and every on-track session is packed with action, speed, and wheel-to-wheel fighting. New for the 2024/25 season is the Gen3 Evo chassis with more power and acceleration than the series has ever seen. Formula E cars accelerate quicker than even Formula 1 does, and can now run in excess of 200 miles per hour with a long enough straight. If you want to get started following Formula E, here's everything you need to know. 

Most Americans seem to have written Formula E off a decade ago when the cars were not nearly as competent as they have become this season. Back then drivers had to come into the pits to swap into another chassis with a full battery to make it to the end of the race. In the early days the sport resorted to gimmicks like voting for a driver to receive a "fan boost" for bonus speed. It's been a few years since those trite turn offs were abolished from the sport, and along the way the series settled on a seriously competent car with futuristic good looks and enough power to get the hammer down. If you gave up on it in 2015, give it another shot, it's really good.

The Gen 3 Evo car was introduced at the season opening race last December and instantly gave the sport a huge shot of adrenaline in the arm. The chassis itself, built by Spark Racing Technology in France, is a spec unit shared among all of the teams, likewise the battery array and charging apparatus. Each manufacturer, however, has to develop its own electric motor, inverter, gear reduction box, rear suspension, and software. Power output has been cranked up to a standard 350kW from the rear motor alone, which equates to around 469 horsepower. At specific points of the race weekend, namely during qualifying, initial standing starts, and while in attack mode, each car gains a 50kW (70 horsepower) boost and the front axle motor kicks in to provide all-wheel drive. This makes the car's 1680 pound weight all the more impressive. 

The extra horsepower and the bigger boost than any previous season provided by attack mode, the races have gotten extremely unpredictable and strategy is more important than ever, but luck is still king. 

To add an extra snag for teams, during double-header race weekends, the series has implemented a mid-race charging element for one of the rounds. The cars come in to the pits mid-race to take a 30-second hit of 600kW charging juice. It's pretty exhilarating, and can add an extra level of twist to the racing. The charge isn't necessary for the cars to make it to the end of the race, but the drivers are given an opportunity to push a little harder with a mid-race charge than they otherwise might be able to if they're conserving energy. 

There are 11 teams on the Formula E grid for season 11. So far the battle at the front has been between Porsche, Nissan, DS, and Jaguar, with an occasional smart showing from McLaren. Here's a rundown of the full grid. A lot of these racers have had varying levels of success in open wheel and sports prototype racing, up to and including F1 and Le Mans race starts. 

Porsche runs the 99X Electric with defending Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein and 2019/20 champion António Félix da Costa. Porsche is the most populous car on the grid with two customer squads. Andretti Global are closely tied in with the Porsche squad, running the 99X Electric with drivers Jake Dennis and Nico Mueller. Spanish performance brand Cupra Kiro team entering a pair of customer Porsche 99X Electric with David Beckmann and Dan Ticktum. Cupra Kiro bought last year's championship winning Porsches used on the cheap, and apparently the cars were directly from display at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart ahead of this season.

Nissan built the e-4ORCE 05 drivetrain for its car, entering with Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland. After some teething issues at the first race of the season, Rowland leads the championship with two race wins from four rounds. Nissan also powers McLaren with Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird doing the driving.

Jaguar builds the I-Type 7 drivetrain for its cars, driven by Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy. It supplies additional I-Type 7 powertrains for the Envision Racing squad of Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi.

Maserati has the Tipo Folgore driven by 2021/22 champion Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes. 

Jay Penske, son of Roger, runs the DS Penske team with factory support from the Stellantis luxury brand. The team's DS E-Tense FE25 car is driven by Maxi Guenther and Jean-Éric Vergne. 

Legendary chassis builder Lola paired with Yamaha to enter the Lola-Yamaha T001 with ABT supporting drivers Lucas di Grassi and Zane Maloney. 

The final team on the grid is India's Mahindra Racing with drivers Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries.  

Formula E runs during the off-season of every other FIA international series, this time kicking off season 11 in early December and running through late July. As of this writing four races of the 16-round season have already concluded. 

In December the series started off in Sao Paulo, Brazil. That race was a totally bizarre series of events that saw Porsche polesitter Pascal Wehrlein in the wall and Jaguar's last-placed qualifier Mitch Evans charge through the field to take the victory. Legendary stuff, that one.

In January I attended the Mexico City E-Prix and had a blast. Porsche once again took pole, but was beat to the finish by Nissan's Oliver Rowland. 

Mid-February saw the first double-header of the season in Saudi Arabia. Maximilian Günther won round 3 from pole for DS Penske, taking the fastest lap along the way for a triple crown event. The second race of that weekend, however, saw Oliver Rowland return to the top step after finishing second the previous day, moving to a solid championship lead after four rounds. 

The following dates are the remaining races in 2025 for Formula E: 

May 3 and 4 will see the series run a double-header on the streets of Monaco. 

Twin Tokyo ePrix rounds will take place on the streets of Japan's capital city just two weeks later on May 17 and 18. 

Shanghai, likewise, will welcome Formula E on May 31 and June 1 for a two-race weekend. 

The final single-race weekend of the series goes to Jakarta, Indonesia for the first time on June 21. 

July 12 and 13 will see Formula E return to Berlin, Germany for a pair of runs on the Tempelhof Airport circuit. 

All of this comes to a close on July 26 and 27 with the final rounds of the season at London's partially-indoor ExCeL circuit. 

In the U.S. you can watch Formula E on the CBS Sports Network or stream it on FuboTV or the Roku Sports channel. It's definitely not the best television package in sports right now, but it's better than previous seasons. I will say, I desperately wish Formula E would just post all of the races to YouTube or something.