Formula E unveils 600kW Gen4 car

Formula E’s next car is not just a cleaner redesign. It’s a real performance jump. The FIA and Formula E have now laid out the Gen4 machine for the 2026/27 season, and the headline numbers are big even by top-level motorsport standards — 600kW peak power, all-wheel drive in every phase of the race, and top speeds above 335 kph. That matters because Formula E has spent years selling two ideas at once. One is close street racing. The other is electric tech that actually teaches carmakers something useful. Gen4 is the first time the series looks like it might be able to push both hard at once. ### What actually is Gen4 replaces the current Gen3 Evo from the start of Season 13 in 2026/27. Formula E says it is the fastest car the championship has ever built, with a larger chassis, a new 55kWh battery, more aggressive aero, and a dual-motor setup that supports permanent all-wheel drive. ## Why does 600kW matter? Because Formula E has usually lived in a weird middle ground — quick, but not obviously extreme to casual fans. Gen4 changes that. The car will run 450kW in standard race mode and unlock 600kW in qualifying and Attack Mode, which Formula E says is a 71% increase over the previous generation’s peak race-boost figure. That is roughly 815 bhp. ### Why is all-wheel drive a big deal? Until now, Formula E has used front and rear power mostly in limited ways. Gen4 goes further with active all-wheel drive throughout the race, plus an active differential. Basically, the series is trading some of its old “make do with less grip” character for harder launches, better traction out of slow corners, and more stable wheel-to-wheel fighting on street circuits. ### Is it only about speed? No — and that’s the important part. Formula E is still framing the car as an efficiency machine. Gen4 can regenerate up to 700kW under braking and recover nearly 50% of the energy used during a race. That is the trick Formula E keeps chasing: build something visibly faster without giving up the championship’s identity as the high-efficiency branch of top-tier racing. ### Will it look different on track? Yes. Formula E says Gen4 should be at least five seconds per lap faster on street circuits than the Gen3 Evo, and it uses two aero configurations — one higher-downforce setup for qualifying and one lower-drag setup for racing. That means the car is not just more powerful; it is being shaped for two different jobs, with performance. ### Why do manufacturers care? Because this is where Formula E stops being a branding exercise and starts looking more like a live R&D program. The series keeps stressing that Gen4 is more “road-relevant” — permanent all-wheel drive, stronger regen, battery management, and software-heavy control systems. Nissan had already committed to the Gen4 era back in 2020. ### What’s the catch? The catch is that faster cars can make a spec series drift away from the thing that made it distinctive. Formula E became popular partly because drivers had to manage energy, improvise grip, and race on awkward city tracks. If Gen4 gets too easy to drive flat-out, some of that weirdness disappears. But Formula E clearly thinks the trade is worth it. ### Bottom line? Gen4 is Formula E deciding that electric racing no longer needs to apologize for being electric. The series still wants efficiency to be the point. But now it also wants the cars to look undeniably fast — and, for the first time in a while, that pitch feels convincing.