Motoring thrills are eco-friendly on the Formula E grid

As floodlights lit up London’s City skyline, pyrotechnics popped and Tinie Tempah performed in front of packed stands last July, you’d have been forgiven for thinking it was the O2, not a racetrack. This unlikely spectacle is back on July 21 with Formula E’s electric vehicles speeding through the halls of the Excel Centre and around the Docklands in two races marking the finale of the 10th Formula E World Championship.
But can a motorsport in which engines sound more like electric toothbrushes than full-throttle racing cars ever match the long-established scale and glamour of Formula One? With high-profile fans from Monégasque royalty to Usain Bolt enjoying races this season, Formula E is certainly gaining traction and its strong lead on sustainability is giving F1 supremos something to think about.
As the first net-zero carbon sport, Formula E has offset all emissions it has created since its inception in 2014. It’s a key priority for its chief executive Jeff Dodds, who sees the sport as a “social and environmental platform as well as a top-end race series”.
Companies from Tag Heuer and Taittinger to Hugo Boss and BMW have already forged Formula E partnerships, recognising the importance of luxury brands appealing to a new generation of eco-conscious fans. However, the success and future development of this sporting franchise takes more than green credentials.
The significant growth in Formula E’s fanbase in the past 12 months owes much to the industry-leading motoring brands involved whose technological advances are delivering top-quality racing with a difference.
As any electric vehicle (EV) owner knows, range and recharge anxiety is real — no less so for a Formula E driver. Cars start races with only 60 per cent of the battery charge needed to finish so drivers must regenerate energy throughout. Ian James, the team principal of the Neom McLaren team, explains: “Not only are the drivers hurtling around the track on narrow street circuits at breakneck speed, but at the same time they’re having to manage their battery energy. It requires some skill.”
Why do they only start on 60 per cent? As EV technology evolves, huge progress is being made every year around the regeneration of energy (and therefore the reduction of range anxiety). The need to use regenerative braking to create more charge is therefore deliberately factored into a Formula E race, so that teams are stretched both in terms of their driving strategy on the day and also in developing better regeneration systems, which will ultimately further the range possibilities for road cars too.
It’s double jeopardy for the drivers on race day. More braking early means more regenerated energy to be used later on in the race, but more risk of losing their position early on and running out of time to use up all of their energy. Too fast too sooner, and they’ll run out of steam. The driver Lucas di Grassi calls it “the fastest game of chess on the planet” given the strategy involved.
Luxury car manufacturers such as Porsche, McLaren, Maserati and Jaguar Land Rover are investing heavily in their Formula E teams, developing technologies that they hope will revolutionise consumer EVs. For James Barclay, the head of the Jaguar LR team, this is key to the sport’s development. “Looking to the future, I think Formula E will become the most relevant form of motorsport in the world because the technology we’re racing with is the technology people will actually drive on roads,” he says.
Street races in the heart of cities such as Miami, Monte Carlo and Tokyo exemplify the sport’s unique blend of high-speed action and sophisticated, cosmopolitan appeal. Few would argue against F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport, but ePrix races are fast and furious, with practice, qualifying and racing all in one day. This season’s battle around Monaco’s iconic street circuit featured 197 overtakes (there were just four in the F1 equivalent) with Formula E cars now out-accelerating their petrol-powered counterparts by 30 per cent, doing 0–60mph in 1.82 seconds.
The glamour of a grand prix takes some beating, but Formula E differentiates its VIP offer as a more “inclusive” luxury experience. Without palatial F1 Team Motorhomes for celebs and C-suite clients to hide away with, figures such as Anthony Joshua, Porsche’s chief executive Oliver Blume, David Gandy and Kylie rub shoulders with mortals in the Emotion Club hospitality.
Alongside limitless delicious culinary offerings and ever-attentive “butlers”, balconies and terraces abound. Motoring aficionados may miss the spine-vibrating throb of 1,000-horsepower engines, but it’s a joy to stand outside right next to the action while still enjoying the DJ.
In contrast to F1’s huge scale, Formula E’s intimate hospitality experience impresses even sceptical visitors. All Emotion Club guests have access to (almost) all areas, chatting to race drivers in the pits, being whizzed around the track on VIP laps in top-of-the-range road cars, wandering the grid before races and watching on from team garages.
There’s much speculation over what the next decade holds for motorsport given the UK ban on internal combustion engines in new cars from 2035.
With its licence to be the only FIA-approved single-seater Electric Vehicle championship until 2039, perhaps Formula E races in iconic city centres represent the future of high-end motorsport, coupling sustainability and innovation with inclusive, fast-paced, urban entertainment?
Dodds asserts that he wants Formula E to be the “noisiest, quietest sport on the planet”. It certainly seems to have plenty to shout about — albeit at low volume.