It's hard to believe that Formula E has already been around for more than three years since its first race in 2014. Since then, BMW has played a support role, supplying the races with i8 safety cars and i3 medical cars. BMW's involvement is about to get a lot bigger, because for the 2018 season, the automaker will finally participate as a factory race team.

This story, originally published 3/22/2017, was updated 7/11/17 to reflect BMW's involvement with Andretti Autosport.

BMW Group announced back in March via a press release it will enter as a competitor starting in the fifth season of Formula E. The automaker said today it will takeover the MS Amlin Andretti team to cement its works status, reports NBC Sports. BMW has received approval from the FIA, while the engineers in Munich are already working on a Formula E powertrain.

BMW joins eight other manufacturers including Jaguar, Renault, Penske Autosport, and NextEV in the ever-expanding series. Currently, drivers must switch cars mid-race thanks to limited battery range, but that should be alleviated for the 2018 season, just in time for BMW's arrival.

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