Electric races are spreading their wings. Formula E is the greatest success so far, but there are also Extreme E and World RX. Then, the radical Airspeeder series, which will resemble a giant electric drone with a human pilot. Now, an electric motorized boat festival is about to launch its first event. With the first race weekend in Jeddah in less than two weeks, I spoke to E1 Series CEO Rodi Basso about how the series has grown and his goals of making for electrifying sailing.
“During COVID, I met Alejandro Agag,” says Basso. Agag founded Formula E and Extreme E, as well as owning other racing groups and television rights on motorsports. “It has secured investment in foiled boats with electric propulsion. I proposed a “Formula E in the water”. We have received an exclusive 25-year license for a world championship of electric technologies.
The race series was officially presented at the Monaco Yacht Club in September 2020. Testing of the RaceBird boat began in April 2022 and the engineering program was also announced at the Monaco Yacht Club in July 2023. The series has managed to attract big names. its teams. One of the first tennis legends, Rafael Nadal, almost exactly a year ago. But later, we were joined by American football hero Tom Brady and football star Didier Drogba, as well as current Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez.
“We are incredibly lucky and happy with the teams, including a Formula One driver,” says Basso. “We also have the DJ Steve Aoki. Didier Drogba is not just a legend in football. He also stopped a war in Africa in Ivory Coast. He’s working on building a foundation to address poverty and education in sustainability in Africa. So, a great human being.”
However, while the racing calendar includes a number of charming maritime destinations, such as Venice, Geneva, Monaco and Hong Kong, the United States is conspicuous by its absence so far. This is unexpected given the popularity of powerboat racing in the United States and the fact that 75% of the recreational boat market is located in the United States, primarily Florida. While E1 is Miami as a race location, it is also Washington DC and the Bahamas as locations in and around the Americas region.
“We look forward to getting at least three races there,” says Basso. “There will be another set of power boats to be based in USA very likely in the Miami area.” This will be important, because E1 has a more direct connection to selling electrification directly to end users than other series. “It has been based on a commercial vision.” In fact, the series has been built on top of a commercial plan to accelerate electric mobility in the water and reduce maritime carbon emissions to zero.
“Marine transport poses the same challenge as what can be found on the road,” says Basso. “For example, trucks are arriving, but they have not arrived yet. It is a matter of technological readiness. Today we focus on lithium-ion batteries, however, new advances are being made in the spaces of hydrogen, lithium-ion batteries. solid state and the use of graphene. It will be wonderful to apply the generation and open all other mobility applications to a broader market.
Motorsport, as a platform for the emergence of new technologies, gains advantages by focusing on a very rapid application, which can be cascaded to broader uses. “As you pick that low-hanging fruit, you’re informed about protection,” Basso says. “This is a small example but with a big long-term impact because the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique – the global governing framework for motorized boating) has no regulations or protection regulations for electrical systems because they have never had an electric championship before. So we wrote them with them. This will be an embryonic edition of long-term approval regulations that will reap benefits for advertising programs. That is the power of running.
Team Brazil is the latest addition to the roster.
While there are eight teams, the hunt for boat pilots has required widening the net, with such a limited supply of powerboat racing experience. Each boat has a crew of two, and E1 has tested road racers as well as those already experienced in water-based motorsports. In fact, Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings, who also race in Extreme E, have been selected for the recently announced Team Brazil. The racing will be fresh and new in other ways than just the kind of motors powering the boats.
The E1 Series plans to charge its boats using power banks and as big a proportion of zero emissions electricity as possible. The power banks would be charged using solar and wind. But there is still development work to do building the necessary infrastructure for electric powerboat racing. The initial race testing took place in September in Rotterdam. “That was our first time racing each other,” says Basso. “A lot of lessons were learned, and we will have a lot of lessons in front of us, as we build to towards the first races in Jeddah and beyond.”
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