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Formula E teams testing with new higher race power limit

The 10 Formula E teams have been afforded the opportunity to test at the proposed new race power limit for the first time in the final test this week

AUTOSPORT understands the all-electric championship is due to publish the draft regulations for its second season later this week, which will confirm teams can run at a maximum power output of 170kW in race trim instead of 150kW as used in season one.

The series has been evaluating an increased power output but teams have not been able to try it on-track while they wait for the final version of an upgraded Williams battery.

AUTOSPORT understands the batteries were subjected to higher-than-expected average race outputs in season one because the teams were achieving better power regeneration than had been predicted.

While the first iteration of the battery was capable of processing 200kW of power over a qualifying lap, it was originally designed to accommodate a much lower race output.

With the maximum power available in a race now increasing and teams pushing for greater efficiency with their new powertrains, the average output is set to rise as well.

Last Wednesday Williams began to phase in an upgrade process to allow each team to have one 'new' power unit for the final Monday-Tuesday test this week.

"The qualifying power is for a relatively short period of time," Andretti Autosport team principal Roger Griffiths told AUTOSPORT.

"If you want to run near to 170kW in a race scenario when you could be doing multiple laps, you need to look at long-term durability."

Williams has also replaced the battery cells, as it feared the teams' differing usage of the batteries over the first season could make performance in the 2015/16 campaign uneven.

The first day of the final test was disrupted by rain, while some teams - like Andretti and Trulli - have yet to achieve meaningful running in any capacity during pre-season.

Vincent Gaillardot, Renault's Formula E programme manager, told AUTOSPORT every team would be behind schedule on something due to the various new technologies being developed for the second season - but in terms of the higher race output, they should have been preparing for the increase long before being able to do so with on-track running.

"It's ongoing," Gaillardot said of his team trialing the higher power output, "but we've already run on the dyno because we've anticipated 170kW since day one."

While maximum power available will be increased for the 2015/16 season, the amount of usable energy will remain at 28kW/h.

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