The grid for the first Gen4 season of Formula E, which will begin this December, looks more or less set with 12 teams and 24 cars pencilled in. But they are far from permanently inked. 

Anticipation is high that the Stellantis-owned Opel brand will confirm its entry with a newly acquired licence at the Berlin E-Prix in early May. That will mean it races alongside sister brand Citroen Racing, which replaced Maserati last autumn.

Porsche has already authenticated its new overall model for Formula E with a second factory team run from its base in Weissach, Germany.

The Race revealed last month that Andretti and Nissan will race together as customer and manufacturer provider, while Envision and Jaguar are set to continue their successful collaboration into the new era. Kiro has an offer from Porsche on the table, which is about to be signed, while Mahindra and Lola will likely go it alone as manufacturers without customer obligations.

Gen4 grid so far

Porsche
Second factory Porsche team
Kiro-Porsche*
Jaguar
Envision-Jaguar*
Nissan
Andretti-Nissan*
Citroen
Mahindra
Lola
Opel*
Penske*

*To be confirmed

That leaves the Penske operation as the last real 'team without portfolio'. Its partnership with DS is set to end in August. Then what?

The Race has looked carefully at why Penske's plans are forming so late and the range of possibilities believed to still be on the table as Formula E continues to have one eye on the present campaign and another on its fourth era.

Go it alone

Penske, or under its previous Dragon Racing name, has a complex history in Formula E when it comes to technical utilisation.

After the first totally spec season of 2014-15, Formula E's launch campaign, Dragon ran a Venturi-supplied powertrain that was essentially the same as the one used by Mahindra. Then Dragon used Mahindra powertrains, badged as Penskes, which the FIA at the time took a very dim view of. 

Gen2 featured Penske's own tech, which it ran via a technical partnership with the Magneti Marelli company.

Stability of sorts came for Gen3 with a partnership gained with DS Automobiles via its performance division. Under Penske's licence, the first real collaboration with a manufacturer began and, after DS's success with Techeetah from 2017-22, hopes were high - especially as plenty of the previous title-winning operation moved across after Techeetah was left to die. 

Yet, despite a strong start - with Jean-Eric Vergne winning in Hyderabad in Gen3's fourth-ever race, and Max Guenther's pair of wins at Jeddah and Shanghai last season - results were moderately successful and at no stage has the team looked like a title contender.

Penske's next move is crucial for the team. Since technical chief Phil Charles was hired at the end of 2023, for what is in all but name the day-to-day management of the team, the presumption was that a self-generated technical package would thrust the operation into Gen4.

That still feels like the preferred option, but some bets have been hedged due to the financing of this project, which Charles has personally overseen, really since he joined as 2024 dawned.

An impressive technical base in Witney, Oxfordshire - Penske Autosport Research Labs - was constructed throughout the latter half of 2024 and is now home to several simulators, notably a driver-in-the-loop and several Theta Seat Sport units via Ansible Motion.

Additionally, there is a design office and assembly areas, a clear indication that Penske is gearing up for the Gen4 era, via being much more master of its own destiny.

But the underwriting of Gen4 from a financial perspective has been the missing key. Talks with several manufacturers and brands have taken place. These are believed to have included Hyundai and Chinese manufacturer BYD at early stages, but these have not been fruitful.

Other technical houses have been tapped up but, as of early 2026, none had bitten - although these conversations are said to still be active and possible to green-light.

Time of course is always a factor and Penske needs to know ASAP which direction it will ultimately go in, as do its staff and drivers. New signing Taylor Barnard has a multi-year deal, while Guenther, in his second season with the team, is believed to have signed a similar deal.

Deadline-wise, there is no real defined one in terms of absolute confirmation. But as of today, Penske is not a registered Gen4 manufacturer.

But in reality, if Penske was to become its own manufacturer, it really needs to confirm as soon as possible if it wants to be testing by the mid-summer period with Gen4 hardware, which will be supplied via the official partners Spark, Podium Advanced Technology, Marelli and Bridgestone.

Become a Mahindra customer

Becoming a customer is not a favoured option for Penske, but it might be the most practical should its own plans not come off. 

With Nissan, Jaguar and Porsche already committed, options appear to be scant, with the delayed Mahindra and nascent Lola powertrains feeling like the only realistic options. 

The Race understands that talks with Lola came to nothing at the end of 2025, but that Mahindra could still be a Plan B for Penske. 

Mahindra is fully engaged at present in getting its Gen4 development car up and running and hopes to be testing it in May, by which time it will be six months behind its rivals in terms of practical on-track running.

That sounds debilitating, but its powertrain has been running on a dyno for a while now and elements of the project are said not to be as intricate as the Gen3 car was, meaning that Mahindra could still avoid a repeat of its late, slow and unreliable initial Gen3 package of 2023.

Still, add to its challenges a customer deal with Penske and all that entails for supporting it, and it's not hard to understand a reluctance on the part of Mahindra to enter into a customer agreement when it is so focused on making up for its own lost time. 

A third way

A third option for Penske might be running its own powertrain, but in conjunction with a new partner looking to invest in Formula E.

In Gen 1 and Gen2, Penske had a pretty bad experience with the Faraday Future company. It got burnt badly by that, but other EV-specialist companies have looked at Formula E in the recent past, including the California-based EV manufacturer formerly known as Atieva, which also supplied the front powertrain kits for the Gen2 era of Formula E and which has since become Lucid Motors. 

Partnerships with such companies are possible, as are collaborations with Formula 1 teams - with more relevance for F1 teams to look seriously at Formula E entries to see if common ground exists.

Jay Penske did not attend the Jeddah E-Prix earlier this month but was said to be in the country at business meetings in Riyadh, although it is not known whether this had a bearing on his Formula E interests.

Paddock rumours have also circulated lately on possible Penske hook-ups with BYD and Kia (owned by Hyundai), although these would likely be for further down the line and not for the start of Gen4. In the autumn of 2024, Hyundai talked extensively to McLaren about the Gen4 period, but ultimately no deal was agreed. 

The Race wrote last November about some of Jay Penske's challenges away from motorsport and the overall situation for the media arm of his empire doesn't show a massive amount of change at present.

Whether Penske's most significant extra-curricular activity - his Formula E team - will be affected is really unknown. What is very much recognised right now is the fact that time is rapidly running out for a decision on whether or not, and precisely how, the Penske name will continue in Formula E.