“Very quickly, I realized it was going to be something big” – ABB ambassador Buemi on Formula E’s growth and promotion of e-mobility

Joining the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship

Buemi joined Formula E for the inaugural season in 2014 thinking it would be a good opportunity but had no idea how it would evolve.

“Very quickly, I realized that it was going to be something big and it was going to grow. We've seen manufacturers joining the championship, the level getting higher and big sponsors and partners joining, including ABB. Today, politically, it's very important to go towards electrification. I'm also happy because I've seen the improvement of the cars. Initially, we had two cars and now we do the whole race with more power, faster and with only one car.”

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The importance of efficiency

“One of the particularities of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is that a lot of the performance comes through efficiency and energy management. The idea is to use Formula E as a platform to develop new technologies and software that will one day be on road cars. We’ve worked a lot to be efficient and to find the right compromise between saving energy and being fast. The motors are getting better and better, close to 98 percent efficiency, which is amazing and the way we use energy is getting better.”

Promoting e-mobility and looking to Gen3

“I feel that people today accept motorsport better if it has a proper message like Formula E. We're trying to develop a platform that will convince people that electric mobility is the future. We showcase how much the batteries are developing, how much the cars are becoming faster and I think we are changing a little bit the vision of the general public on electric mobility. I think that the improvement from Gen1 to Gen2 was mainly the range. But from Gen2 to Gen3, I expect a big step in terms of pure performance.”

The introduction of Gen3 in season 9 will also see ABB become the official charging supplier, providing portable charging units that can charge two cars simultaneously, thereby reducing the charger footprint.

The shift towards all-electric motorsport

“I think electrification will be more and more important in the future, with more hybrid and full EV cars. But it's a bit difficult to say whether Formula E is going to replace or overtake Formula One. At the moment, Formula One remains the number-one category in motorsport, but Formula E is growing massively and I think it deserves its own place in the ladder in the history of motorsport .”

ABB is the title partner in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, an international racing series for fully electric single-seater racecars. Its technology supports the events at city-street tracks around the globe. ABB entered the e-mobility market back in 2010, and today has sold more than 400,000 electric vehicle chargers across more than 85 markets; more than 20,000 DC fast chargers and 380,000 AC chargers, including those sold through Chargedot.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

2021 ABB FIA Formula E Championship – Calendar (races confirmed to date)