When Formula E returned to the streets of London in 2021 for the first time since 2015, it did so against a poignant backdrop. “Race against climate change” is the message on one of the team’s cars and the all-electric series set out as a high performance driver for manufacturers in the electric vehicle (EV) market.
When I sat down with Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle the distinctive hum of electric cars lapping in and out of London’s ExCel centre could be heard in the background, while torrential rain flooded the U.K. capital. By the time the race wrapped up on Sunday evening, with cars and pit garages packed up into shipping containers, one of London’s (electric) DLR stations just three miles down the road, Pudding Mill Lane, was underwater. The videos, broadcast on national news, left an uncomfortable aftertaste for the weekend in proving that climate change is here to stay no matter who is racing against it.
Formula E embarks on its eighth season opening in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The series has reached maturity and gained FIA World Championship status but a murky future lies ahead as the series must decide what it wants to be, while manufacturers weather a troublesome storm in the world’s race for a green, low carbon future.
“We started as a vision of accelerating electric mobility in simple terms,” Reigle tells ESPN. “And we’re the only sport that’s founded with that sense of purpose … we’re using sport to inspire and tell stories around climate change, and all that good stuff. But the practical reality is we’re at a maturity level now seven seasons in, we have to build a credible tier one-sport.
“In 2014, when we started the business, the world wasn’t looking for another motorsport. Most of those rounds were pretty well served. Equally, the world probably wasn’t looking for another advocacy group. The magic is bringing them together in one kind of mix.”
Source : espn
