The DS concept with two Formula E motors
Everyone loves a bit of “French luxury savoir-faire” – stated aim of the DS brand – but when you’re a dominant force in Formula E (DS having won both manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles twice in the past three years) you get to wondering where the stonking supercar such a successfully sporting brand deserves has got to.
Well, wonder no more. It’s here in the shapely form of the DS E-Tense Performance prototype. That shape might in fact be a little familiar – it’s a reworking of the original E-Tense concept from 2016 with elements of the more recent Aero Sport Lounge concept from 2020. But this new machine leaves both for dead in the power stakes. Under that eye-catching colour-changing coupe body is the powertrain of the Formula E single-seater. And it’s been put on steroids.
Formula E racecars are limited to 335PS (250kW) but this twin motor, four-wheel drive beastie boasts a system output of 815PS, split between a 250kW motor up front and 350kW unit behind. DS says torque at the wheels hits 8000Nm.
It should go well then but how well DS is not saying, short of hinting at a 0-62mph time of 2.0 seconds and promising full stats just as soon as DS’s Formula E champion Jean-Éric Vergne has had a chance to test it, “on tracks and open roads”. Jean-Éric, please bring it to Goodwood and see what it will do up our hill.
The E-Tense Performance is constructed around a carbon monocoque with the battery housed in a central rear position for optimum weight distribution. DS says the battery uses a clever new cooling system inspired by that in the race car. The design remains eye-catching with its new “face” and LED lights so sharp they look like they could cut you.
Alas this latest machine from both DS Automobiles and motorsport division DS Performance is just a one-off. But DS says it will act as a mobile high-performance laboratory so it does point to greater performance in future DS models, all of which are pledged to be battery-electric from 2024.
“Our objective is to apply the experience acquired in Formula E to a project which predicts the high-performance electric car of tomorrow,” says DS Performance chief Thomas Chevaucher.
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