In 2016, ZF (www.zf.com) and the Venturi Formula E Team formed an official technology partnership for the FIA Formula E championship.

For the fifth season, ZF has developed an electric driveline for Venturi (www.venturi.com) that includes an electric motor, as well as newly developed transmission and power electronics.

New rules for season five have ushered in many changes, with the Gen2 car having double the battery energy storage capacity of its predecessor (the Gen1 car), allowing it to complete the entire race without the mid-race car swap that was previously necessary.

The Gen2 car has increased an power output of 250kW, accelerates from 0 to 100kph in 2.8sec and has a top speed of 280kph (174mph).

The first race on 15 December was the first time Venturi took to the track with the newly developed driveline from ZF (plus newly developed power electronics and a new electric motor).

Tobias Hofmann, ZF’s technical project manager, said that this is the first electric driveline from ZF that has been developed purely for use in motor-sports.

“In order to stay competitive in the fight for the best lap times, we needed to make significant changes to the transmission design.

“This new transmission uses a single-gear concept as well as new materials, such as a metallic lightweight alloy for the transmission housing.

"The new concept has enabled us to reduce the transmission weight by nearly 40% compared to the previous season’s design. The new driveline also gives a significant increase in efficiency.”

The new inverter is ZF’s first power-electronics product with high-performance silicon-carbide modules (the casing is made entirely of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic).

Meanwhile, the ‘intelligent’ control software is based on years of testing in volume production and has been adapted to the special demands of motor-sports.

Norbert Odendahl, CEO of ZF Race Engineering, said: “In addition to our Classic Core motor-sports products such as shock absorbers and clutches, we now want to use the new ZF electric driveline to highlight our competence in top flight motor-sports and electromobility — particularly under the toughest of conditions.

“Formula E provides the optimum platform for us to do just that.”