---
title: "Formula E's Gen4 era pushes electric racing closer to F1 territory"
description: "When Formula E opens its 2026/27 season in Jeddah this December, it will do so with a new car its organizers call the most powerful in the series' history — a 600-kilowatt machine with all-wheel drive that narrows, on paper, the long gap to Formula 1."
category: "Technology"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/technology
author: "Marcus Reed"
published: 2026-06-23T18:36:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-23T18:36:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/formula-e-s-gen4-era-pushes-electric-racing-closer-to-f1-territory
tags: ["Formula E", "Gen4", "electric vehicles", "motorsport", "Formula 1", "FIA"]
---
# Formula E's Gen4 era pushes electric racing closer to F1 territory

When Formula E opens its 2026/27 season in Jeddah this December, it will do so with a new car its organizers call the most powerful in the series' history — a 600-kilowatt machine with all-wheel drive that narrows, on paper, the long gap to Formula 1.

Formula E has spent a decade as motorsport's electric understudy: quieter, slower and confined mostly to temporary city-center tracks. Its next car generation, badged Gen4, is meant to change that perception. The series and motorsport's governing body, the FIA, say the machine that debuts in its thirteenth season is its fastest and most powerful yet — and on several measures it edges toward figures once associated with the top tier of single-seater racing.

## What the car can do

According to the [FIA and Formula E](https://www.fia.com/news/fia-and-formula-e-unveil-gen4-setting-new-benchmark-speed-sustainability-and-innovation), the Gen4 produces 450 kilowatts (kW) of race power, rising to a peak of 600 kW in Attack Mode — the overtaking boost drivers can deploy during a race. An official [Formula E fact sheet](https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/762855/fact-sheet-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-gen4-car) lists that peak as 600 kW, or about 804 brake horsepower, and describes it as a 71 percent increase over the outgoing Gen3 Evo.

Formula E also quotes a top speed of 335 kilometers per hour (about 208 mph) and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.8 seconds. The car uses a 55 kWh battery and can recover energy under braking at up to 700 kW, with a minimum weight of 954 kilograms without a driver. The headline change is mechanical: Formula E says Gen4 is the first open-wheel race car with permanently active all-wheel drive, used in qualifying, at the start and during Attack Mode.

## How it stacks up against F1

The comparison is imperfect. A current Formula 1 power unit produces roughly 1,000 horsepower from a hybrid turbocharged engine and reaches higher top speeds on long straights, so Gen4 does not match F1 outright on peak power or velocity. What has narrowed is the order of magnitude: an electric single-seater quoting 600 kW and a sub-two-second sprint to 100 km/h is no longer in a clearly separate performance class.

Formula E's leadership has leaned into the message. Chief executive Jeff Dodds called Gen4 "the most advanced, demanding, and sustainable machine we've ever built," while co-founder Alberto Longo described it as "a car built for wheel-to-wheel battles and pure racing action." The FIA, for its part, frames the platform as letting manufacturers — among them Porsche — develop road-relevant electric technology.

## A bigger, longer season

The new car arrives alongside the series' largest calendar. Formula E and the FIA have announced a record 21-race, 2026/27 schedule across 13 events, opening with a night double-header at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia on 18–19 December 2026. As [RACER reported](https://racer.com/2026/06/23/cota-added-as-formula-e-unveils-2026-27-calendar-and-format), the season adds the Circuit of the Americas in Austin and moves the London round to the Brands Hatch circuit.

For now, the performance claims remain series and manufacturer figures rather than independently verified race data. Whether Gen4 makes Formula E genuinely feel like Formula 1 — or simply a faster version of itself — will become clear once the cars line up in Jeddah.

## Sources

- [FIA and Formula E unveil GEN4](https://www.fia.com/news/fia-and-formula-e-unveil-gen4-setting-new-benchmark-speed-sustainability-and-innovation)
- [Fact sheet: All you need to know about the GEN4 car](https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/762855/fact-sheet-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-gen4-car)
- [COTA added as Formula E unveils 2026-27 calendar and format](https://racer.com/2026/06/23/cota-added-as-formula-e-unveils-2026-27-calendar-and-format)