Spark Racing Technology was announced as chassis supplier for the second-generation car on 9 January 2017. McLaren Applied Technologies had previously been selected in September 2016 to supply batteries exclusively. The first shakedown of the SRT05e took place in secret at the Circuit Ecuyers in Reims, France, in September 2017 — before Halo installation or full bodywork — with Anthoine Hubert at the wheel, covering over 400 km. Endurance tests across three days at the Monteblanco Circuit in Spain followed in October 2017, with both Hubert and Frédéric Makowiecki driving.
The car was revealed to the public at the Geneva International Motor Show on 6 March 2018 by FIA President Jean Todt and Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag. The first manufacturer group test at Monteblanco saw 2,000 km of running achieved on day one alone. The car was notably described as the first race car to be fully conceived and project-led by the FIA itself.
The SRT05e carried a 56 kWh battery from McLaren Applied Technologies — double the usable energy of its predecessor — enabling the car to race for a full event distance without switching cars. This single change fundamentally altered the spectacle and logistics of Formula E, removing the car swap and with it a procedural quirk that had polarised opinion.
Unlike the Gen1 car, which used a single spec motor, the Gen2 opened motor development to competing manufacturers. Teams could design their own FIA-homologated electric motors or procure a homologated unit from an existing manufacturer at a capped cost of no more than €250,000. This fostered genuine powertrain competition and encouraged car manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and DS to join the series.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Weather 18-inch tyres were used, continuing the single-compound approach from the Gen1 era. The new tyres were 2 kg lighter at the front and 2.5 kg lighter at the rear versus the previous generation.
The Spark SRT05e was the first Formula E car to incorporate the Halo cockpit protection system — the wishbone-shaped titanium frame mounted to the monocoque that had been introduced in Formula One in 2018.
Formula E planned a bodywork upgrade — the Gen2EVO — for the 2020–21 season, redesigning the front of the car to be more fragile and thus discourage the physical driving style the wider Gen2 car had encouraged. After repeated delays attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent schedule disruptions, the Gen2EVO was cancelled entirely in August 2020. Running a bodywork update for only a single season before the Gen3 car arrived was deemed uneconomical.
The SRT05e was used in four Formula E seasons: Seasons 5 through 8. Season 7 was the first season contested under the FIA World Championship designation, elevating the series to the highest tier of FIA-sanctioned motorsport. The Gen2 era produced champions Jean-Éric Vergne (Season 5), António Félix da Costa (Season 6), Nyck de Vries (Season 7), and Stoffel Vandoorne (Season 8). It also saw the championship grow substantially in manufacturer participation and prize-money scale.
The Gen2 car transformed Formula E from a novelty with an unusual car-swap procedure into a recognisable single-seater series with its own visual identity. Its enclosed-wheel aesthetic and fighter jet proportions made it instantly distinct from any other category on the grid, helping Formula E build a broadcast and commercial identity. The car's broader battery capacity settled a fundamental technical question about the viability of electric racing, laying the groundwork for the even more capable Gen3 that followed.