There’s not much time to design, develop and test a new powertrain for season two, Venturi GP team principal Nicolas Mauduit tells us – but he’s confident the company is up to the challenge and will begin testing in May. What’s more, we can expect the regulations to allow more power.

Monaco-based EV maker Venturi was today revealed to be one of eight manufacturers joining Formula E from season two. (The name will already be familiar as Venturi has been running a team in the first season.) Team principal Nicolas Mauduit fills us in on the details:

“It’s really exciting. At Venturi, we’ve been developing electric cars for more than 14 years. We already produce a varied range of electric powertrains, between 200kW and 1MW. We hold the FIA word record for the fastest electric vehicle with the VBB3. That was a huge challenge, but there are no competitors running with you on the salt flats.

Formula E is different. We can compete. We have done a lot of work on achieving an efficient powertrain. It’s a long process and time is very short. We’ve only just been qualified by the FIA, but we have already spent time working on this. We will develop the motor, inverter and gearbox. Nothing is off the shelf. It’s very ambitious, but we have the skills in the company to develop new components.

We’ll have the powertrain ready to test on the bench in May, and then to test on track at the beginning of June. We have a fixed number of testing days. We can do private testing, but we have to inform the FIA, who may attend. Some testing will be done in France and some at Donington.

The battery pack and battery management system will be exactly the same, from Williams. We are not allowed to enter the system. But for season three, we will work on our own battery pack.

For us, we already have the most powerful electric powertrain on earth, with the VBB3. This championship gives us the possibility to show the energy density and efficiency that we can develop. It gives us new technology and knowledge to develop road cars with better efficiency and better power-to-weight.

We have regulations to follow for season two, which I don’t think are public yet. But there will be an increase in power levels in qualifying and in the race.”