BMW i8 becomes the Formula E safety car

The Formula E Championship's official safety car will be a modified BMW i8 and is set to make its debut at the Beijing league of the race in September. It is called the Qualcomm Safety Car and will be driven by Bruno Correia.

The exterior of the car is finished in white and has a Qualcomm livery on its side. Inside,  it is fitted with a roll cage, racing bucket seats with safety harnesses, and a fire extinguisher.

All of the cars, including the BMW i8 will also be equipped with Qualcomm Halo wireless charging systems, a charging system that allows the battery of the car to be charged without the use of cables. It works by using a magnetic resonance induction transfer via a pad placed on the ground while a charging pad is placed on the underside of the cars. The cars can just park themselves over the pad and charge automatically.

"Qualcomm's wireless charging system is ground-breaking technology and represents an exciting evolution for charging electric vehicles. Wireless charging has the potential to radically improve the electric vehicle driver experience and Formula E provides the perfect platform in which to develop, test and showcase this exciting new technology,” - said Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E.

Originally, the car made its 1^st public appearance during 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. It's a plug-in hybrid car that utilizes a 1.5-liter twin turbo inline three engine and is fitted with an eDrive electric motor. The engine produces 231 PS with 320 Nm of torque while the electric motor produces 130 PS and 250 Nm torque. The car is able to create a combined power rating of 362 PS along with 570 Nm of torque. The engines are mated to a 6-speed automatic and runs on an AWD system. It can go from 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds and has a claimed fuel consumption of 40km/l.

Watch the video below and see how the safety car looks on the inside and the outside.