Formula E has announced that energy supplier Enel will be the all-electric championship’s official power supplier. The move comes a week after it was revealed that Enel have teamed up with Nissan for its xStorage and vehicle-to-grid smart energy systems.
As part of the agreement, Enel is designing a fully digitised mini-grid for Formula E to use, reducing the drain on the local electricity grid by eventually providing its own renewable power. In the meantime, smart metering technology will monitor power usage and get the fans involved, with information such as energy use for each team gathered at each race.
The grid will be able to be transported from location to location, especially important as Formula E doesn’t currently race at established race tracks but in city centres around the world. Enel’s LED lighting will help reduce the championship’s environmental impact, while the company will set up charge points at each location for EV drivers attending the race.
With the signing of the agreement, Formula E will now become carbon neutral, with the Berlin ePrix the world’s first carbon neutral motor race. Currently Formula E generates around 30,000 tonnes of CO2 each year – with the majority of this created in the transportation of equipment around the world.
Measures are being taken to reduce the amount of CO2 output generated by Formula E, though Enel has agreed to offset emissions through the use of the company’s renewable energy technologies including, solar panels and glycerine-fed generators.
In return, Enel will be able to use Formula E as an advanced testing ground in the same manner as the likes of Renault, Mahindra, DS Automobiles and Jaguar are – or will be in the future – though from a different stand point. Those manufacturers plan to develop technology to help build better plug-in cars, while Enel will be looking at the energy storage and use aspect from a consumer’s point of view.
The collaboration will begin in earnest at next week’s Berlin ePrix, and will continue for at least the next two seasons, with the option to extend the agreement beyond the current 2017/18 contract.
The Italian company – which sells energy in Europe and North and Central America – is on significant expansion into putting itself in the public’s consciousness. A re-branding earlier this year, in conjunction with the Nissan and Formula E announcements, have brought the company into the news having almost been unheard of on UK shores a few months ago.
Image courtesy of Formula E
