Why Jaguar's tie-up with Envision goes beyond the Formula E arena

It was an inevitability that the Envision team would have to find a new Formula E powertrain supplier for the upcoming Gen3 regulations. It was perhaps also inevitable that the British team, formerly the Virgin squad, would elect to tie up with Jaguar following the climax of its four-year partnership with Audi.

Audi, which departed Formula E at the end of last season as a works entity, elected to keep supplying Envision with its powertrains for one more year; after all, the hardware was all homologated last year, so the Volkswagen AG subsidiary wasn’t going to be frittering away money on development. Instead, the only real outlay for the 2021-22 season was to build and supply the hardware, something Envision was already paying for. But that’s not going to continue into the third-generation formula of cars expected next year.

Although the number of true manufacturers has dwindled somewhat in Formula E, as German triumvirate BMW, Audi, and Mercedes all exit stage left, there were still a few options available for Envision to work with. Mahindra, Porsche and Nissan would all have the resources to sanction a customer supply, while the DS powertrains are set to also power the incoming Maserati partner project as a rebadged package - as Stellantis expands its involvement in the all-electric series.

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But Jaguar makes undoubtedly the most sense on all counts. Firstly, and most importantly, Envision’s 2021-22 car is green. It’s a no-brainer, really.

On a considerably more serious note: Envision needed a manufacturer that, on recent form, would help keep the British outfit at the sharp end of the grid. Audi’s motors had ensured that the squad would frequently prove to be good value for points and podiums – with the occasional win also possible – and Jaguar’s growth in Formula E has set the Big Cat among the front-running pigeons on a regular basis.

Envision team principal Sylvain Filippi explained that the process to select a new powertrain supplier began with an extensive spreadsheet – and that the overall performance, as a significant unknown factor, took a back seat to a range of other properties.

Envision remain competitive as an Audi customer after the brand's FE exit with a homologated powertrain, with Frijns taking second in Diriyah

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

"We have a gigantic spreadsheet somewhere; it was a very thorough exercise,” Filippi explained. “It's for us a major decision, probably the biggest decision I have to make every four years. It’s really significant, it dictates how competitive we're going to be and how our life in the paddock is going to be next few years.

“The one thing we don't know is the exact level of performance from each powertrain in the next cycle - I have no way of knowing that. But I can have a pretty good idea on everything else, like the reliability, resources, R&D, experience - all these things. We basically match all of that and try to have the most scientific approach perceivable to the performance aspects of things.

“Everything else is easier, in terms of brand alignment and where we're going as companies, what are the kind of things we can do together, that's actually quite easy to do. Then we come up with a ranking. And then in this case, it was actually pretty clear cut.”

"Jaguar is the most ambitious legacy OEM in terms of electric vehicles, and Envision, we actually do everything but the car. So that's why it's a really good partnership" Sylvain Filippi

“Brand alignment” would usually sound like a spuriously employed fragment of marketing jargon, but in the link-up between Envision and Jaguar, it plays a significant role. The two teams are situated closely together geographically but, from a business standpoint, they complement each other well: Jaguar is an automotive manufacturer looking to turn its entire product range into electric vehicles, while Envision is a colossal power conglomerate that produces wind turbines and energy management tools.

By joining forces, Jaguar has a partner that can help it realise its EV dreams and Envision has a partner that can help it expand its reach within the automotive industry – having purchased Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) from Nissan to produce EV batteries for the automotive sector. So there’s more than meets the eye in a racing environment.

“Jaguar is the most ambitious legacy OEM in terms of electric vehicles,” Filippi adds. “And Envision, we actually do everything but the car. So that's why it's a really good partnership - we have no plan in actually making electric cars, but we do everything else: the renewable energy, the smart grid, the storage through Envision AESC which is becoming a gigantic operation in terms of batteries.

“For Envision, it's really important to understand everything that's going on around electric vehicles, because then it will be part of an ecosystem. The purpose of our team is to accelerate the adoption of electric cars powered by renewable energy. That's what really will change the world completely.”

For Jaguar, there are tangible benefits to its Envision tie-up in its automotive ambitions

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Although it has focused only on its own endeavours since joining Formula E for the third season of the championship, Jaguar’s decision to expand its interests and supply another team is hardly a breakneck volte-face. Team principal James Barclay admits that part of Jaguar’s rationale in becoming a powertrain supplier to another team was driven by the reduced manufacturer involvement for the incoming Gen3 regulations, but wisely acknowledged that having two sets of data to work with can only be a win-win situation.

After all, it’s a model that has benefitted Mercedes greatly as the Gen2 regulations reach their end, having gorged on success with both its works outfit and its partners at Venturi. Barclay explained that, following Formula E’s encouragement for manufacturers to make powertrain supplies available to other teams, it was simply a case of selecting the right team to work with. In Envision, he’s confident that Jaguar has that.

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"Quite quickly, we started to look at the landscape of what Gen3 was looking like,” said Barclay. “It became apparent that the blend of manufacturer to customer teams is going to be far closer than it has been in the past.

“Our strategy previously had been not to have a customer team, but we felt the timing made sense, both from most likely that we would be approached and secondly from a strategic point of view to really work with the right customer team to strengthen both parties. It's fair to say Sylvain and I started discussions quite early in the process and that quite quickly started to look like it was going to be the ideal partnership together.

“For us it's about fundamentally having a competitive customer team as well and Envision have absolutely proven themselves to be just that; that was really important element to us. Firstly, it’s a team that has been incredibly professional in the way they go racing and have a really good ownership structure that has clearly committed to the future, with very strong sustainability goals.

“I'm really pleased to say I think together we have a really strong pairing. We're really pleased that we'll have four Jaguar-powered cars on the grid in Gen3.”

Barclay says that Jaguar has begun to set the wheels in motion and expand its workforce to supply another team, putting together a team dedicated to supporting Envision from next season. Some of that team will involve existing members within Jaguar moving across to provide continuity and expertise, ensuring that both teams are competitive from the get-go.

Barclay says Jaguar staff will move across to Envision to improve the flow of information

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Development is, of course, ongoing for the Gen3 rules, which will herald a shift to a 350kW drive motor at the rear of the car along with a single-spec motor at the front which will aim to regenerate up to 250kW from braking. The usual development paths for the former will still apply, with manufacturers seeking to maximise the overall efficiency to ensure minimal energy is lost between the supply from the battery and the drive. Jaguar is expecting to have its development car ready in May, which will allow the team to go testing and work through any early issues ready for the next age of Formula E.

“We actually started [development] some time ago,” Barclay revealed. “That goes back to even 2020 that the work started. It's a short gestation period for a powertrain if you look in automotive terms, but motorsport's always getting us to work fast. From that point of view, we're well into the programme, and it’s something we’ll manage in terms of the design, the development and the building.

"We want our cars to be winning races and beating all the others first, then if it comes down to between our two teams, it's very important to have it all come down to the drivers and the qualifying laps and whatever. It's a great problem to have!" Sylvain Filippi

“Then we're into installation and running with our development car. From May onwards, we're expecting to receive our development car, the powertrain will go in and we'll conduct our first manufacturer days. Then at a point where we're all fully debugged and ready to get into teeth in terms of performance testing, that's when both the factory team and Envision will start getting mileage.”

With its own experience of working with Audi, Envision only needs to adjust to Jaguar’s working methods and already has the infrastructure in place to work as an effective customer entity. Filippi added that he and his team was “excited” to begin its partnership with Jaguar, and that the marque’s expansion to a second team would double their chances of representation at the front.

“Formula E is more competitive than ever, that's why fans love it, and it's such an amazing sport to watch,” he said. “But it's only going one direction, you know, we went from seconds to hundredths of seconds to literally milliseconds now between cars in qualifying. So I think there's more and more of a need to have a strong partner.

“We want our cars to be winning races and beating all the others first, then if it comes down to between our two teams, it's very important to have it all come down to the drivers and the qualifying laps and whatever. It's a great problem to have! But first, we have to beat everyone else. And to do that, it's no easy task - it's very tight. So that's why it's super important to work intelligently.”

It’s now down to Jaguar to produce the goods in the design office, and ensure that its entire powertrain can continue to allow both teams to fight for victories in Formula E. Without Mercedes in the ring, Jaguar has a very real chance to finally stake its claim for a title and doubling its fun with an effective second team yields an even greater opportunity. It’s a brave new world for Jaguar, and its new partnership will leave its management envisioning a period of success in the championship’s next generation.

Will Envision's new relationship with Jaguar yield a new golden age for both parties?

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images