Porsche is Getting Serious About Formula E

Porsche’s electric aspirations just got a whole lot more serious after executives met with Formula E boss Alejandro Agag in Monaco.

Porsche’s CEO Oliver Blume and its LMP1 team principal and technical chief, Andreas Seidl, traveled to Monaco to meet with Agag during the Monaco ePrix in mid-May.

The Stuttgart-based automaker has been evaluating participation in Formula E since last year when the company tendered a formal application to supply the series with battery technology from season five onwards; a contract which it lost to McLaren Applied Technologies.

Additionally, key Porsche personnel attended the Berlin ePrix a week before the 24 Hours of Le Mans to hammer out the parameters needed for an entry in the near future.

“We received an invitation [to Monaco] from Alejandro Agag to have a look and experience Formula E for the first time,” Seidl said in an interview. “We just had an invitation to an interesting series, though maybe there are not enough technical freedoms yet.”

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Allegedly, Porsche is looking to become involved in season five when the series plans a switch to one-car races; current battery technology forces drivers to change cars mid-race.

The news comes hot on the heels of reports from the German media that Porsche’s back-to-back-to-back Le Mans winning LMP1 program could face the guillotine following the 2017 World Endurance Championship season.

A final decision on Porsche’s WEC future will be handed down from the board later this year, and much like sister brand Audi, the house that Wolfgang built could potentially shed its $200 million, per year, prototype program, in favor of a Formula E team costing a mere fraction of that.

[Source: Autosport]