Mosley wants to discuss KERS with teams

KERS will be introduced in Formula One from the upcoming season, although teams have been having a hard time with its development and it is unclear how many of them will have it ready for the start of the campaign.

Its development has also forced teams to spend huge amounts of money, with some of them believed to have spent up to $60 million (USD) on preparation work.

With teams believed to be considering introducing a standard system for 2010, Mosley made it clear in a letter to the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) that it was up to them what they chose to do.

However, the FIA chief also said that the governing body was in favour of banning the use of batteries for KERS.

So far, only Williams are believed to have been developing a non-battery flywheel-based KERS system, while the rest of the outfits have opted for the eletrical route.

"No team is obliged to fit KERS," wrote Mosley in the letter. "It is also open to the teams to agree on a standard system or, indeed, to agree not to fit it at all.

"We are increasingly of the view that the use of chemical storage (in particular batteries) should be prohibited in Formula One owing to the unsuitability of the batteries currently available.

"There are at least two mechanical or electro-mechanical systems under development for Formula One and there may be others as well as hydraulic systems. Formula One would benefit from systems with more capacity than the present 400KJ, 60KW, (for example maxima of: 2MJ stored, 150KW in, 100KW out) but still very small and very light, as is essential in Formula One.

"These figures are theoretically possible with mechanical devices, but not feasible in the foreseeable future using batteries and/or capacitors. Such non-chemical devices, if successfully developed, would have a very significant impact on road transport and other applications.

"This is a subject we should like to explore in depth with FOTA. In particular we should like to examine how Formula One's outstanding engineering capacity could be used to develop KERS without incurring significant costs for the teams."