The FIA have created a new electric vehicle racing series called the Formula E Championship. The cars will be purely electrically powered. The series will be run by entrepreneur Enrique Bañuelos as CEO, team owner Alejandro Agag, Lord Drayson of Drayson Racing Technologies and Eric Barbaroux, head electric automotive company "Electric Formula."

The series will do demonstration runs in 2013, and the series will start in 2014 with at least 10 teams and 20 drivers. The plan is to race in major cities. Rio, Brazil, has already been confirmed as the first city to hold a race in 2014. Prince Albert of Monaco has also expressed interest in hosting a round. 

The series plans to focus on city races because the series sees a natural link between cars and cities. The races will take place in a single day including qualifying. Qualifying will be done in a playoff format with two cars racing each other at a time. 

One unfortunate factor of the series is that the drivers will have to change cars in the middle of the race. The cars' batteries do not have enough energy to power the car for an entire race. So in the middle of the race during the pit stop, the driver will have to physically change cars.

That seems like a major financial hurdle for the series. If the organizers want 10, two-driver teams plus two cars for each driver means each team will have to have at least four cars. That could get incredibly expensive once any crashes are factored in. 

"We are pleased with this agreement with Formula E Holdings as they bring a very strong experience in motor sport. This spectacular series will offer both entertainment and a new opportunity to share the FIA values and objectives," said FIA President Jean Todt. 

Teams will be able to produce their own chassis and engines or use the Formulec EF 01 if they do not have their own car. 

The EF 01 has a 250km/h top speed and can accelerate to 100km/h in three seconds. It uses a two-speed transmission and can run for 20 minutes on a charge. It takes between one to one and a half hours to recharge the battery. Siemens builds the electric motor, and the frame is from Mercedes GPMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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. Formulec says the car's performance is similar to a Formula 3 car.