Season 5 of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, the world’s first fully electric FIA motorsport series, launches for the first time in the Middle East, in Ad Diriyah, on the outskirts of Saudi capital Riyadh, on Saturday, December 15, and will take in 11 rounds before the New York double-header finale next July. New races in the Chinese resort city of Sanya and Swiss capital Bern further augment the calendar.
The new season is the most ambitious yet, with 11 teams, 22 drivers and nine global car manufacturers competing. A highlight is the debut of the new Gen2, the world's most advanced electric racing car with a top speed of 280 km/h and double the battery storage capacity of its predecessor, which for the first time will allow a full race to be completed on a single charge.
As title sponsor of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, ABB will have a significant presence at each of the races to champion e-mobility for a sustainable future. In season 5, leading female racing driver, Simona De Silvestro, is a new global ambassador for ABB, helping to raise awareness of the company’s pioneering technologies for e-mobility as well as its commitment and contribution to diversity. Swiss-born De Silvestro will combine her ABB ambassador role with test-driving duties for the Venturi Formula E team, which has the sport’s only female team principal, Susie Wolff.
De Silvestro is the second ABB Formula E driver to become an ABB ambassador, joining Sébastien Buemi, who in season 5 is driving for the Nissan e.Dams team.
Yet another first for the new season is the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, the world's first all-electric, production-based racing series, which will be held on the same weekends and on the same city street circuits as the ABB FIA Formula E Championship races. ABB will provide custom-made, compact fast chargers for each of the participating teams in this new electric car racing series.
ABB’s title sponsorship of Formula E, which began in January 2018, is a logical extension of the company’s market and technological leadership in electric-vehicle fast charging. To date, ABB has sold more than 8,500 direct-current chargers in 69 countries, a figure that includes 1,200 high-power DC chargers capable of refreshing vehicle batteries at levels of up to 350 kilowatts and adding up to 200 kilometers of cruising range in as little as eight minutes. ABB is also a leader in flash-charging technology for electric buses, which offer high power charging via an automated rooftop connection.
The Season 5 upgrades – most notably the Gen2 cars’ almost doubled battery capacity – present ABB Formula E as an even more striking alternative to conventional racing. The e-races demonstrate that the world’s transition from fossil-fuel vehicles to e-mobility can be as exciting as it is environmentally sustainable.
