Entrepreneur Alejandro Agag, the founder of Formula E has announced plans to launch a new electric vehicle off-road racing series called the Extreme E series in 2021.
Due to commence in January 2021, the Extreme E racing action will be staged in five areas of outstanding natural beauty currently under threat from climate change. By racing in the Arctic, the Himalayas, Sahara desert, the Amazon rainforest and islands in the Indian Ocean, Extreme E aims to showcase the performance of electric sport utility vehicles (SUVs) as they compete in extreme environments as well as raise awareness of the specific issues each environment faces, such as melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification, retreating mountain glaciers, plastic pollution and rising sea levels.
The series will be operated in association with Formula E and use a traditional round-robin format with two groups of six teams – with the top-four progressing to the knock-out stage and each driver going head-to-head to earn a place in the final. The off-road stages will be around 6-10km in length with a series of virtual gates to be navigated through by drivers – in a mixture of extreme heat and humidity, high altitude and sub-zero temperatures.
The venture has secured the backing of Continental Tyres as a founding partner and official tyre supplier and Brazilian company CBMM as niobium supplier, which will feature in the chassis of the all-electric SUVs.
“I’ve always been passionate about progressing electric vehicle technology and the impact that clean mobility solutions can have on the efforts to halt global climate change. I strongly believe that Extreme E can help make the world more sustainable faster, and we have a dream team to make this ambition a reality,” said Agag.
“Extreme E offers a unique sport, adventure and entertainment concept that has never been seen or done before. Viewers can expect a completely new way of consuming sport, with each episode telling not just the story of a race, but the wider race of awareness and the need to protect these remote and challenging environments being explored by Extreme E,” said Gil de Ferran, chairman of Extreme E.
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