Formula E was conceived as a high-profile platform for electric vehicle technology in motorsport, offering city-centre street racing in major world capitals. The series was organised by Formula E Holdings and sanctioned by the FIA, which recognised it as the highest class of competition for electrically powered open-wheel cars. The inaugural season attracted ten teams and marked a significant structural experiment: every team ran identical machinery for the entire year.
All ten teams used the Spark-Renault SRT 01E, a car built by Spark Racing Technology. The chassis was designed by Dallara, with an electric motor developed by McLaren — the same unit used in the McLaren P1 supercar — a battery system created by Williams Grand Prix Engineering, and a Hewland five-speed gearbox. Michelin supplied the tyres. The FIA ordered 42 cars for the season.
A distinctive constraint of the inaugural season was that no single car had enough battery capacity to complete a full race distance. Drivers were required to stop mid-race and switch to a second car, making two-car operation mandatory for every team and every driver. This pit-stop car-swap defined the sporting spectacle of Season 1 and was publicly acknowledged as an interim measure while battery technology matured.
Ten teams entered the inaugural season. Each team fielded two drivers, each with two cars, requiring 40 cars in total. All teams were nominally based at the series' technical headquarters at Donington Park in the United Kingdom.
Drayson Racing withdrew before the season began and was replaced by Trulli, a new team formed by former Formula One driver Jarno Trulli in a supply and sponsorship arrangement with Drayson. Mike Conway had been scheduled to drive for Dragon Racing but withdrew before the season to focus on his FIA World Endurance Championship commitments with Toyota, replaced by fellow IndyCar racer Oriol Servia.
The ten teams were: Audi Sport Abt, China Racing, Dragon Racing, Amlin Aguri, e.Dams Renault, Mahindra Racing, Trulli (formerly Drayson), Andretti Autosport, Virgin Racing, and Venturi. The driver lineup mixed Formula One veterans, IndyCar regulars, and emerging talents from various international series.
The season comprised eleven races held between September 2014 and June 2015. The original calendar of ten races was expanded after a Moscow round was added and a London double-header made the final round count eleven. The season visited Beijing, Putrajaya, Punta del Este, Buenos Aires, Long Beach, Monaco (street circuit), Berlin, Moscow, and London — a roster of city locations intended to showcase electric mobility in accessible, visible environments.
Points were awarded to the top positions in each race, with one significant structural rule: each driver's lowest-scoring round was dropped from their total, though rounds ending in exclusion could not be dropped.
Nelson Piquet Jr. won the inaugural Drivers' Championship. Renault e.Dams claimed the inaugural Teams' Championship. The season established Formula E's foundational format and demonstrated that city-centre electric racing was commercially viable, laying the groundwork for the series' rapid expansion in subsequent years.
Season 1 is remembered as a proof of concept for electric motorsport at the highest level. The mandatory car swap, while operationally complex, generated its own drama and became one of the defining images of early Formula E. The season confirmed a market for the series among manufacturers looking to associate with electric vehicle development, with several major brands announcing entries for subsequent seasons. The Spark-Renault SRT 01E chassis used in Season 1 would continue in service through four seasons before being replaced for Season 5 by the Gen2 car, which resolved the battery-range problem and eliminated the car swap entirely.