\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
The idea of an all-electric racing championship used to sound like science fiction, and in its debut season, Formula E\u2019s cars needed a mid-race swap just to make it to the checkered flag.<\/p>\n
\u201c12 years ago, if someone said we\u2019re going to create an all-electric racing championship<\/a>, people might have thought you were absolutely crazy,\u201d says Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E.<\/p>\n At the time, just 300,000 electric vehicles were sold worldwide and, according to Dodds, \u201cthey weren\u2019t very good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn our first season, we needed to have two cars to finish a race, because the battery wouldn\u2019t last long enough,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n Today, the technology has improved dramatically. Around 22 million EVs are expected to be sold this year, with BloombergNEF forecasting<\/a> that figure could reach 35-40 million annually by 2030.<\/p>\n The transition is already accelerating in markets worldwide<\/a>. And Formula E has spent the past 12 years positioning itself in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n Before joining Formula E, Dodds spent years in the automotive industry, working for Volvo<\/a> and later Honda<\/a>, where he became deeply immersed in motorsport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had our own Formula One team, MotoGP, British Superbikes, touring cars\u2014they had everything,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n That background explains why Dodds doesn\u2019t view Formula One as a threat. If anything, he sees it as the benchmark for elite motorsport<\/p>\n \u201cBelieve it or not, whilst I was an F1 fan, I also followed Formula E before I came to work here,\u201d Dodds says. \u201cI have a good appreciation for the journey that Formula One\u2019s<\/a> been on,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe\u2019re similar, and then we\u2019re very different.\u201d<\/p>\n F1 and Formula E both use open-wheel, single-seater Formula racing cars. But there are some major distinctions. The main one is obvious from the name: Formula E is an all-electric racing league, while Formula One uses traditional internal combustion to power its cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t just reduce Formula E\u2019s carbon footprint \u2014 it changes the racing product itself. With limited energy at their disposal,\u00a0 the world\u2019s best drivers must decide when to conserve and when to push, adding another layer of strategy to wheel-to-wheel racing. Dodds likens it to \u201ca game of chess on the racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n He believes this appeals to racing fans differently than F1. \u201cF1, for me, is nostalgic,\u201d Dodds explains. \u201cI know the drivers. I know their journeys. I love the locations they race at. Perhaps the bit I like least about it is the actual racing.\u201d<\/p>\n He compares many F1 races to a \u201cprocession,\u201d where fans often have a good idea of who will win before the engines start.<\/p>\n Formula E, by contrast, places a premium on parity.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you say to me, \u2018Who do you think is going to win the London race?\u2019 I legitimately would say it could be anybody.\u201d Dodds says. \u201cEveryone has a chance of winning that race. That\u2019s pretty rare in motorsport.\u201d<\/p>\n Races are designed to last under an hour, with plenty of overtakes and the kind of \u201cthrills and spills\u201d that can hold the attention of viewers accustomed to faster-paced entertainment.<\/p>\n Those differences are reflected in Formula E\u2019s audience. Its fan base skews younger, is split nearly 50-50 between men and women, and has a particular interest in technology, sustainability and innovation. That audience has also attracted the attention of media giants. On August 11, Formula E, Disney+ and ESPN announced a landmark multi-year agreement that will make Disney+ the global streaming home of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship across 144 territories. In the U.S., races will stream on Disney+ alongside ESPN+ beginning with the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t mean to be disparaging because I watch it and enjoy it,\u201d Dodds says, \u201cbut I don\u2019t find F1 anywhere near as exciting as I find us.\u201d<\/p>\n What sets Formula E apart from many companies now embracing sustainability is that its mission wasn\u2019t created in response to a trend. Sustainability has been at the championship\u2019s core from the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a big business that decides you want to become more sustainable, that\u2019s a very worthy thing,\u201d Dodds says. \u201cBut you\u2019re trying to reverse-engineer a more sustainable approach into your processes and the way you work. We\u2019ve only ever had it as a core tenet of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n Formula E was built around three goals: create an elite global racing championship, help accelerate the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles and become the world\u2019s most sustainable sport.<\/p>\n More than a decade later, Dodds believes the organization has a strong case for achieving that last goal. Formula E is the only sport in the world certified as a B Corp. This designation recognizes companies meeting high standards for social and environmental performance while committing to continuous improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sustainability is embedded throughout the race weekend. Events are powered by hydrogenated vegetable oil, single-use plastics are eliminated on-site, and the cars are charged using renewable energy. Formula E says its Gen4 car will also be 100% recyclable or reusable.<\/p>\n \u201cMy personal view is when people hear \u2018sustainable,\u2019 they often hear compromise,\u201d Dodds says. \u201cThey think the product\u2019s going to be more expensive, or not as good, because you\u2019re trying to do it sustainably. And I think we are a brilliant argument against that, because we produce the fastest-selling race cars in the world and the most exciting racing, while being the most sustainable sport.\u201d<\/p>\n The racing is entertaining, but it isn\u2019t what makes Formula E important. Much of the championship\u2019s impact happens off the track, where it works alongside some of the world\u2019s largest automakers to test EV technology that can eventually find its way into consumer vehicles.<\/p>\n Formula E has six manufacturers competing in its championship: Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, Stellantis, Yamaha and Mahindra. <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the reasons they\u2019re in is they treat the racetrack like a laboratory for testing technology that can make its way into their road cars,\u201d Dodds explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the latest Porsche Cayenne Turbo, it\u2019s the most powerful production Porsche ever released \u2014 and it\u2019s all-electric,\u201d Dodds says. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible piece of machinery, and a lot of the technology in that car has been developed through, or come out of, Porsche\u2019s Formula E program.\u201d<\/p>\n He also mentions Formula E\u2019s work with Jaguar\u2019s I-Pace, where Jaguar discovered a way to install over-the-air software updates to their cars from an iPhone. \u201cThis is where we are in terms of the cutting-edge nature of the technology,\u201d Dodds says. \u201cYou know, things are being developed and discovered on our racetrack that will find their ways into your cars incredibly quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodds admits it\u2019s difficult to imagine just how far Formula E could go. After all, the championship\u2019s first 12 years have already produced growth that once seemed unimaginable.<\/p>\n \u201c12 years ago, we had zero fans, zero TV audience, and a car. You needed two cars to do a race. The car finished at 130 miles an hour,\u201d Dodds shares. \u201cTen years on, you\u2019ve got 420 million fans, over half a billion TV audience, and you\u2019ve got a car that accelerates to 100 kilometers in 1.6 seconds and races well over 200 miles an hour. It\u2019s inconceivable how far we\u2019ve come.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of this, Dodds is reluctant to put hard limits on Formula E\u2019s long-term growth. In an industry moving as quickly as electric vehicles, he believes setting objectives too far into the future can be more constraining than helpful.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely have an ambition, but I wouldn\u2019t want to constrain that by tethering us to a set of targets that are too low,\u201d he says. They\u2019ve already gone from zero to 100 incredibly quickly. It\u2019s impossible to tell how fast they\u2019ll grow now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The idea of an all-electric racing championship used to sound like science fiction, and in its debut season, Formula E\u2019s cars needed a mid-race swap just to make it to the checkered flag.<\/p>\n \u201c12 years ago, if someone said we\u2019re going to create an all-electric racing championship<\/a>, people might have thought you were absolutely crazy,\u201d says Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E.<\/p>\n At the time, just 300,000 electric vehicles were sold worldwide and, according to Dodds, \u201cthey weren\u2019t very good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nAltering the Formula\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Speed without sacrifice<\/h2>\n
World\u2019s most exciting test lab\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Zero to 100<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
\n