Lucas di Grassi claimed victory after an incredible final lap in the first ever ePrix around the streets of Beijing, with long time leaders Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld spectacularly colliding at the final corner.
Prost led for much of the race while Heidfeld jumped up to second during the mandatory stop to change cars, with the duo running clear at the head of the field across the final part of the race.
Prost had to repel an attack from Heidfeld in the closing laps, with the German trying a move at the very last corner as he attempted to take the position away from the e.dams driver.
Heidfeld dived down the inside but Prost swerved to defend the line at the tight left-hand corner, launching Heidfeld across the sausage kerbs and into a violent airborne collision with the catch fencing, from which he miraculously emerged unscathed.
A furious Heidfeld was able to clamber from his stricken upside-down Venturi machine to confront Prost, who is his team-mate at Rebellion Racing in the World Endurance Championship.
Former Formula 1 driver Di Grassi profited from the accident to snatch a historic victory for Audi Sport Abt, despite spending just a few hundred metres at the head of the field. Franck Montagny charged to second despite starting from eighth while Sam Bird completed the podium.
Pole man Prost retained his lead at the start but the field bunched into Turn 2 as Montagny put an aggressive move on Andretti team-mate Charles Pic, with the latter narrowly avoiding the outside wall. Further back, Bruno Senna sustained terminal damage to his Mahindra machine following contact with Takuma Sato, causing the deployment of the Safety Car.
Montagny was the man on the move at the restart as he overtook Jaime Alguersuari, which also allowed Sam Bird to pass his team-mate.
Prost continued to hold a lead over di Grassi and Daniel Abt across the opening stint, while Montagny claimed fourth at the expense of Karun Chandhok.
The pit-stops provided much of the intrigue, with drivers having to swap into their second cars and remain in their garages for a minimum of 50 seconds.
The majority of the frontrunners stopped on Lap 14 with Prost retaining his advantage as Nick Heidfeld leapt up to second, ahead of di Grassi and the charging Montagny, as Abt slipped to fifth.
Bird opted to stop a lap later and was able to come out in sixth, ahead of Chandhok and Pic, although the Indian hung on to the back of his rival and made the move on the inside of the final corner.
Prost held the lead but Heidfeld closed the gap to sit within a second as the race approached the final five laps. Heidfeld proceeded to hound Prost but struggled to get close enough for a move.
Heidfeld eventually got a run on Prost at the final corner of the race, but they collided in spectacular fashion, handing the win to di Grassi.
Montagny was elevated to second, while Abt claimed third on the road but was demoted to 10th after exceeding the battery consumption. The German driver used 28.2kW of the allocated 28kW available, enabling Bird to climb onto the bottom step of the rostrum.
Pic finished in fourth, ahead of Chandhok, who slowed across the final two laps due to an overheating battery. Sixth went to Jérôme d’Ambrosio, while Oriol Servià took eighth after a long battle with Nelson Piquet Jr. and Stéphane Sarrazin.
Jarno Trulli was unable to start due to a technical issue and he was joined on the sidelines by Sato, who stopped on track, and Sébastien Buemi, who sustained rear wing damage but briefly returned to the track in a bid to set the fastest lap. He managed it, but his time was beaten by Sato, whose car eventually got going.
