FIA launches technical regulations for “electric sport vehicles”

FIA, the governing body of motorsport, has unveiled the first set of technical regulations for Electric Sport Vehicles, electric vehicles closely related to road-going production EVs which will be used for competitions at national and regional levels.

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, unveiled the new technical regulations for Electric Sport Vehicles late last week after they were approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

The new regulations cover both technology and safety as well as performance management for relevant categories, and are designed to enable manufacturers to offer cars ready for competition, and to minimise adaptations from road-going production models.

Much like Group N rally cars, the new FIA ESV ruleset will be open to both Grand Touring cars as well as four-door, coupe-shaped sports sedans with a maximum chassis height of 1460mm.

Minimal adaptations can be made with the bodywork shape to remain “fundamentally unchanged, with the exception of the possibility to extend the wheel arches to accommodate wider racing tyres and additional cooling ducts.”

In order to provide weight saving gains, selected bodywork panels such as the rear hatch, doors, rear wing, and diffuser will all be replaceable with equivalent made from lightweight materials that nevertheless must maintain the original shape.

“The FIA ESV ruleset very much responds to the demands of the market,” said Lutz Leif Linden, FIA GT Commission president.

“Having this set of technical regulations will allow the manufacturers’ customer racing departments to offer competition-ready variants of their electric cars, which should be a considerable source of revenue of them, much like GT3 is. It can even open the door for them to create their own one-make series.

“The fact that the regulations are inclusive and accommodate four-door cars reflects the latest trends on the road car market. We already see several manufacturers having sporty four-door grand coupes in their line-ups.”