The Formula E championship has the lofty ambition of changing the public’s “perception of electric cars”, according to Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E.
Speaking exclusively to Next Energy News at the final race in Formula E’s calendar at Battersea Park, Agag explained that “Formula E has a clear objective which is to change the perception of electric cars”.
The championship has been designed so that technological advances pioneered on the racing circuits will be passed down to consumer electric vehicles. But Agag’s ambition for the series doesn’t stop there. He hopes that the races can be used as a platform to help drive change in not only the way we consume energy, but the way we generate energy too.
The race at Battersea Park in London saw Formula E join forces with Lightsource Renewable Energy, the largest operator of solar PV assets in the UK. As part of the arrangement, Lightsource provided solar-powered storage devices that helped power certain parts of the event weekend – including all of the support cars.
Agag told Next Energy News that Formula E’s relationship with solar technology was just the beginning, he said: “We want to focus on the upstream, we need to focus on where the energy that powers those cars is generated. In Formula E we believe that solar is the future of energy in the world.”
“In a really short period of time we were able to come up with these solutions to effectively have solar energy in this race,” continued Agag. “To show that this is going to happen. So the safety car will be charged with energy that comes from the sun, even the ticket scanners will be powered with energy that comes from the sun – and I think that’s a great symbol of how Formula E and solar energy can, and will, work together in the future.”
The dramatic last weekend of the Formula E championship saw Sam Bird crowned victorious in his home race, with Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr walking away with the championship title, beating out Sebastien Buemi by one point.
Next Energy News will be posting various videos in the near future from its time at this weekend’s Formula E race
