Formula E to race in Miami and LA

Today Formula E, the open-wheel world championship for electric cars sanctioned by the FIA, released a preliminary list of eight cities across the globe where races will be held: London, Rome, Los Angeles, Miami, Beijing, Putrajaya (Malaysia), Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Rome and Rio de Janeiro had been announced earlier but the rest of the cities are new to the schedule. All courses will be run on city streets in downtown locations accessible to public transportation, according to a release by Formula E Holdings, the organization putting on the series.

Specific street circuits have not been laid out, but Los Angeles has held races for both vintage cars and for NASCAR on two temporary circuits a little over a decade ago. VARA cars raced around LA's Olvera Street and NASCAR held a Busch race on streets surrounding the city's famous Colosseum, with more than a few name drivers behind the wheel.

Under a consortium of race-related companies called Spark Racing Technology, 42 chassis for the race cars are being built by Dallara while McLaren is developing the electric drivetrains. Teams are free to develop their own cars, too. Two teams are onboard so far, Drayson Racing, which had earlier converted a Lola B12 sports car to electric drive and showed it at EVS26, and Team China Racing, which recently showed a car of its own. The series plans to make 4 cars available to each of 10 teams competing.

While the series will launch in 2014, demonstration events will take place throughout 2013. One has already been run in Italy. Formula E has reportedly received interest from 23 cities and is expected to add two more to the list released today.