Electric charge

Watching drivers hit 200mph and feeling the basso thump of V8 engines hit your stomach makes Formula One on race tracks the boldest show on earth. But wait, what’s this? The cars racing in front of me are on the streets, not a track. And the only noise they make is an electronic ‘schmeee’ that makes them sound like Star Wars attack fighters. Oddest of all, it is (whisper it) fun. Welcome, sports fans, to Formula E.

Although it is a race, the cars look like F1 single-seaters, and the series shares a name with its noisy high-octane twin, Formula E is not a rival to Formula One. “No one can compete with F1 and anybody who tries will fail,” says Alejandro Agag, the flamboyant Spaniard who is chairman of the race series. “What we are doing will complement F1.”

It will also complement the auto industry as a whole. The brands that run the Formula E teams, including Jaguar, BMW, Audi, Nissan, DS Techeetah, Mahindra Racing, and NIO, see the 14-race series as a great way to way to develop and promote electric cars. New research shows that many youngsters are no longer interested in driving, regarding cars as expensive, impractical, and harmful to the environment. Vehicle ownership in the developed world could decline by more than 20 per cent between 2020 and 2040, says Norbert Rücker, Head Economics and Next Generation Research at Julius Baer. What better way to lure millennials into the showroom to look at a different kind of car – an EV (electric vehicle) – than by presenting them at Formula E races?