Getting the best performance out of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 Formula E race car requires knowing precisely when to deploy power during a race and when to make the best use of energy recovery through regenerative braking.
Racing is won through efficiency.
Road vehicles have already benefited from this Jaguar racing energy technology.
Improvements that are clever
Predictive Energy Optimisation (PEO), which was developed by the championship-winning Jaguar TCS Racing team, improves energy efficiency by up to 10% in real-world driving.
A good balance:
PEO determines how to use the power from the PHEVs’ electric motor and gasoline engine to their greatest advantage throughout a journey to maximise range and efficiency in the Jaguar F-PACE P400E and E-PACE P300E models.
Always looking forward:
Additionally, PEO saves at least six kilometres of electric-only range for you to use on the last leg of your trip, assuring a silent arrival with no exhaust emissions.
Excellent timing
When approaching curves, intersections, and roundabouts, Jaguar’s Eco Coach, included in the XE, XF, E-PACE, and F-PACE MHEVs, tells drivers to accelerate to maximise energy regeneration.
Race established
Mitch Evans and Sam Bird of Jaguar TCS Racing utilise the lift and coast cycles of Eco Coach technology to optimise their energy strategy during an E-Prix.
Mitch Evans and Sam Bird of Jaguar TCS Racing are skilled judges of the greatest braking position for a corner as well as the best spot to pull off the throttle, allowing them to maximise regen and avoid wasting energy using the friction brakes.
Gaining knowledge from these tactics will directly aid Jaguar’s plug-in electric hybrids (PHEVs) and mild hybrids by increasing efficiency and lowering emissions (MHEVs).
The Jaguar TCS Racing team builds a highly accurate model of every city circuit in advance of each round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, down to the drainage covers.
The model built for the London e-Prix, which will take place on July 30 and 31, also takes into account changes made for this season to the curvature of the double chicane between turns 10 and 13.
The models are used to create the energy strategies for the races in the cutting-edge driver-in-the-loop simulator.
These race-winning tactics guarantee that the drivers always apply the brakes and take off at the ideal moments, allowing them to save as much energy as they can.
Every joule of energy transferred to power the I-TYPE 5’s motor and returned to charge the battery during regenerative braking is accounted for and used as efficiently as possible thanks to this feature.
Sam and Mitch make sure they have enough energy to make it to the finish line while taking full advantage of the performance required to maintain the lead.
What practical applications of Jaguar Racing Energy Technology there are
The Predictive Energy Optimisation function for the Jaguar F-PACE P400e and E-PACE P300e PHEV models was developed using software learnings from this process.
When a destination is entered into the Pivi Pro infotainment system’s navigation, PEO receives an overview of your trip (up to 650km in length), which it divides into 100-meter segments for analysis.
PEO makes an informed choice about which powertrain should be used at each stage, prioritising the electric motor in urban areas to deliver zero tailpipe emissions driving, for example, or the efficient Ingenium petrol engine on motorways.
It does this by analysing a wealth of GPS map data, including the types of roads – and average speeds on them, as well as gradients. In real-world driving, this sophisticated, predictive regulation of the two power sources can increase energy efficiency by up to 10%*.
The system also makes sure that you have at least six kilometres of EV range available in reserve, ready to be used during the last leg of your journey and allowing you to arrive at your destination without making any noise or emitting any tailpipe emissions.
Eco Coach attribute
Used in the Jaguar XE, XF, E-PACE, and F-PACE MHEVs, the system reads the road ahead and tells drivers when to take off, maximising the advantages of regenerative braking.
This helps customers develop a smoother, more efficient driving style.
The lift and coast cycles Mitch Evans and Sam Bird use to optimise energy use during an E-Prix are analogous to Eco Coach technology.
Regen is crucial in Formula E because it allows the race cars to regenerate about a third of the energy needed to finish the 45 minutes plus one lap race distance.
using GPS to guide navigation
On the road, Eco Coach combines the GPS location of the vehicle and data stored in the cloud to predict the most likely path the vehicle will travel.
Together with map data on gradients, road curvature, and speed limits, the technology can look up to 2.5 kilometres in the future, or what is known as the “electronic horizon,” to recognise impending road features like corners, junctions, and roundabouts, lower speed limits, and downhill slopes—all of which would probably cause the driver to depress the accelerator pedal.
This intelligent image of the road ahead, which is updated every 10 metres, is sent to the powertrain control module to help it decide when it is best for the driver to take off, allowing the driver to use regenerative braking as much as possible in place of friction brakes to slow down the vehicle.
When the car reaches this position, Eco Coach intuitively signals the driver to let off the gas by presenting a filled-in green pedal icon in the instrument panel.
This icon then turns into an outline when the driver does so, and vanishes if they hit the brakes.
With the help of this, race car drivers can learn when to lift off the gas and coast on the race circuit.
Every little improvement in efficiency counts because it can mean the difference between winning and losing by less than one percentage point per lap.
To create the best energy strategy for each Formula E race, we model every circuit, as well as the Jaguar I-performance TYPE’s on it, in such fine detail.
Team Principal of Jaguar TCS Racing James Barclay
The Predictive Energy Optimisation system in Jaguar’s plug-in hybrids is incredibly successful and enables customers to get the most out of their cutting-edge powertrains thanks to the methods we employ and the priceless knowledge we’ve amassed.
The Eco Coach technology found in Jaguar’s mild hybrid vehicles serves the similar purpose, enabling drivers to conserve fuel and cut emissions.
Both are fantastic illustrations of our Race to Innovate philosophy and how we are teaching our customers from the incredibly competitive world championship motorsport.”