Is Formula E going to be a big thing?

Formula E is the world's first mass appeal all-electric racing. The cars are fast and they look similar to the ultra-cool engined counterparts. But there have been a number of detractors.

Some say the noise, or lack thereof, removes a lot of the defining ambiance that F1, Nascar, Indy cars, and all the other styles of engined racing offer. You cannot get distracted by anything when the noise of the cars passing you is so loud that demands your attention by force. You can have a conversation and read a book if you like at a Formula E race.

And new technologies are sought to make the cars even quieter. Because in the world of electrics, efficiency is so much a part of the design that noise is a measurable waste.

And there are other problems in that the cars can't be refueled because to keep the battery in a car whipping down a bouncy road at over 100 miles per hour they had to secure it far too tightly to allow a battery quick-change during the race. Instead, two cars are used and the driver switches between them. They put the pit stop under a roof so spectators don't see how hokey it is.

Each car has enough battery power to last for 20 minutes or so. Which makes the races rather short. And this is with cars that reach only a little more than 1/2 the speeds that F1 racers do.

With all this, you'd think the sport might not be what the masses want. In the end, even if magnetic drive does become the norm, we'll keep those loud fast F1 cars around because they are the pinnacle of racing. But I'd beg to differ. If battery technology becomes good enough, it solves the last 3 problems. With higher battery capacities we can use bigger motors, and have longer races. And with better competition that faster and longer brings, the engineering problem of a battery quick change will be solved.

And noise? I imagine we'll get used to quiet. In fact, I expect a whole new crop of spectators will want to see these speed demons when they were not apt to witness the cars that assaulted their ears.