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Formula E targeting races without car changes by 2018/19 season

Formula E is on course to become an open formula in its fifth season, 2018/19, when it is planned that each driver will use only one car during the 45-minute races

The championship has laid out what series boss Alejandro Agag is calling a "five-year road map" to achieve the goal of ending the practice of drivers swapping between cars mid-race.

The first step is to allow development of the powertrains in 2015/16 and batteries in 2016/17, while mandating the use of the existing Spark-Renault SRT_01E chassis.

The road map will also allow for an increase in the amount of energy that can be released from the battery. It will go up in steps from the current 28kw/h to 33kw/h in seasons three and four, and up to more than 40kw/h for season five in 2018/19.

Agag told AUTOSPORT: "I believe we will be able to retain a single chassis for four seasons, but I don't think that will be possible if we are to stop needing to have two cars for each race.

"Teams will go for quite radical technologies, which means they will need their own chassis."

Andretti Formula E team principal Roger Griffiths said that the shift to one-car races would require "a complete change".

"You'd probably need a car with four-wheel-drive, so you could harvest off the front axle, for example," he explained.

China Racing boss Steven Lu warned of the importance of maintaining controls on costs, should Formula E become an open formula.

"We must discuss how we can keep the costs under control," he said.

"We must remember that we are not Formula 1."

The power available from the electric motors will also increase in stages, rising from this year's 150kw in race specification to 170kw next season and 200kw - the same as the present qualifying level - for seasons three to five.

Seven of the 10 Formula E teams have registered as so-called manufacturers along with Renault, a sponsor of both the e.dams team and the series.

China Racing is represented by NEXTEV TCR, a new company set up by Lu, while Motomatica is a joint venture between the Trulli team and Italian technology company Tecnomatica.

A number of teams are expected to come up with their own specifications for the motor and gearbox, which would then be produced by McLaren and Hewland respectively.

The other two teams, Aguri and Dragon will have the right to purchase technology from one of the registered manufacturers at a capped cost.

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