DS Penske has launched the car that will contest the 11th season of the FIA Formula E championship, one that it believes will be “an ace” up its sleeve.
The Franco-American team has unveiled its latest challenger – the DS E-TENSE FE25 – which features a brand-new powertrain and a colour scheme it describes as a “deep black livery characterised by golden stripes”.
In a statement released by the team, Eugenio Franzetti, DS’ Performance Director, said:
“For DS Automobiles, this season has even more significance than a title. First of all, we embark on our 10th season of Formula E!
“Since 2015, our marque has racked up 121 races, four championship titles, 16 victories, 51 podiums, and 24 pole positions – which is exceptional. Furthermore, we are now presenting a car that has a brand new design and a new powertrain developed by DS Performance.
“Today, I’m particularly proud of the huge amount of work put in by our engineers and mechanics over the last two years. The DS E- TENSE FE25 will be a huge asset for us to bring DS PENSKE towards some great successes.”
DS Penske ‘working like crazy’ to push forward
The team will be hopeful that the GEN3 Evo era of Formula E will provide a clean slate, as the venture between DS and Penske has been an underwhelming one so far in terms of results.
This is the third season that the partnership has competed in FE – beginning at the start of GEN3 – and has so far yielded only one victory, via Jean-Eric Vergne in Season 9.
Vergne is now partnered by Max Günther, who joins from Maserati MSG Racing, and the team have additional reasons to feel confident, as this is its first full season for Deputy Team Principal and technical guru, Phil Charles, who joined the team in early 2024, after leaving Jaguar TCS Racing.
Charles told Motorsport Week that the transition to GEN3 Evo is a “semi-reset,” and that the staff at Stellantis – the team’s manufacturer – “have been working like crazy to deliver the next step in our car.”
Charles also spoke on the possibility of Attack Charge being used in Season 11, with a mock race that will include the charge in pitstops being planned for the first day of the Valencia test next month.
“The cars effectively split in a period of the race,” he said. “Some cars that will have pitted, taken on their fast charge, they will drop that 34 seconds [the time it takes to take-on 4kWh of energy] plus the pit lane time behind the lead group if they continue and then they’ll be on a different pace.
“They’ll be on a different way of attacking that kind of period of the race, and then the guys that will come in and pit later for their charge, we’ll then see where they come out in the wash after that fast charge.
“So, strategically, it’s very interesting. The technology to be able to fast charge at that rate brings with it some really interesting parameters to deal with on the manufacturers and team side.
“We’ve obviously been doing our homework.I’m not going to give out too many of the conclusions of that because I want the other teams not to know what we’ve been doing!
“But we’ve been certainly looking at the profile, looking at the way the temperature goes into the battery as you heat it up, looking at the way that you strategically go about racing with that fast charge.
“So, lots of interesting things there that the fast charge bring, and definitely, there’ll be a period where you’ve all got to learn quickly. As much as you do lots of simulation, you try and build the best understanding you can.”
