Techeetah weighing up switch to DS powertrain for 2018

The team, which is mostly owned by Chinese Media Capital, currently runs a Renault powertrain and is the only acknowledged customer team currently in Formula E.

Plans for a deal with DS are believed to be at an advanced stage, and could see the team committing to the French manufacture later this year for a season five programme beginning at the end of 2018.

The plans come after Techeetah's star driver Jean-Eric Vergne expressed some frustration during the Mexico City ePrix weekend about an inability to test pre-season.

Manufacturers of Formula E powertrains are allocated 15 days of testing, but get an extra seven if they are also supplying a customer team.

It is at the manufacturer’s discretion if they give some of these days to its supplied team.

All pre-season tests must be done with the same chassis and the same battery. Renault e.dams chose to use all of its days last year in readiness for season three.

These tests may not be carried out with a car that has already been homologated, and the FIA monitor days with an official logger.

“Of course it is not ideal [being a customer] because we should have had testing days before the season, but they [Renault] took five so we didn’t have pre-season testing,” Vergne told Motorsport.com.

“They have a huge advantage that people don’t consider so much, and all we have is the race day to try things, it’s hard.”

It is believed that this is one of the issues that prompted Techeetah to look at a potential collaboration with DS Performance for 2018.

Vergne is known to still have an excellent relationship with senior DS figures, including CEO Yves Bonnefont and technical chief Xavier Mestelan-Pinon after a season working with them in 2015/16.

“I think we have a really good strategy [for the future] and we are working on it,” continued Vergne, who also has an interest in Techeetah beyond just being a driver.

“Hopefully sometime soon we can announce something. We want to be a successful team and I have a long contract with the team.”

Sticking with Renault for season four

Techeetah will however continue to use a Renault powertrain for at least next season, team principal Mark Preston has confirmed.

The team's predecessor, Team Aguri, had committed to a two-year Renault customer deal after running the year-one specification Spark-McLaren package in Formula E’s second season.

“It’ll still be a Renault,” Preston told Motorsport.com. “It means next season will be a nice smooth transition.

“It’s very reliable. It’s almost been plug-in-and-play in some ways.”