It is well known that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is subject to many conditions. But perhaps few people know what they do in racing, and particularly in Formula E, where they are the main sponsor and technical partner of the Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E team.

As a technology partner, TCS represents a range of technical innovations to help the team maximize the performance of the cars. Unlike other racing categories, Formula E cars are powered solely by electricity. In addition, all cars have exactly the same specifications with regard to, for example, the mechanical suspension of the wheels and the aerodynamics. In addition, they all use the same type of battery to make it as fair as possible.

So what can Jaguar TCS Racing influence? Formula E seven different manufacturers of electric motors, of which Jaguar is one. These are different, but with specifications that manufacturers must adhere to, there is no room for change here. But the team can optimize strategies around power consumption, which they do. They can further optimize the transmission, suspension and all the software that controls the various components of the car.

To facilitate this, Jaguar TCS Racing has engaged TCS to set up a cloud environment where they have quick access to all racing data as well as a digital twin of the car itself. The environment is optimized to speed up the transfer of competition data to the team database. When it comes to collected data, it is extremely important that engineers have access to it as early as possible in order to analyze performance and results and make necessary adjustments. And it is certainly not small data that we are talking about here. A weekend of competition generates about three terabytes of data.

The lessons learned by the team from racing don’t just benefit Formula E cars. Jaguar is also using this knowledge for the development of commercial electric vehicles as well as the charging infrastructure of the future. This has, for example, already enabled the Jaguar EV I-PACE to have a longer range of 20 kilometers thanks to a system software update.

Digital twins

Formula E races do not have fixed tracks as they are set up temporarily for racing, usually in major cities. This means that drivers cannot get there in the same way as on the well-known large circuits of Formula 1. In addition, circuits can change from season to season as some parts of the course can be redo. Here, Jaguar TCS Racing is creating a digital version of the current stretch of the circuit and allowing drivers to drive it virtually in the cars’ digital twins before races. This allows the drivers to learn the track while the engineers gain invaluable data which they then use to optimize the settings of the physical cars so they have the best possible chance of being the fastest once the race begins.

In addition to tweaking the car’s settings, the digital part is important for setting up a racing strategy so that the team can run it within the limits of the battery capacity. Each car only has 40kWh per race, so it’s important to save electricity so the race can be completed.

Both Jaguar and TCS belong to the Tata group.

If you want to know more about what TCS is doing in Formula E, visit Company Website.