Sustainable practices
Pedro d’Orey
Every year is ‘Green Year’
Rodi Basso
Co-Founder & CEO of E1 SERIES
In recent years there’s been a trend towards clean mobility. How do we get from A to B with minimal impact on the planet? Current modes of transport have opened up so many opportunities, but at what cost?
The issue we now face is to ‘quickly’ come up with clean technology solutions, which match the same level of performance. The automotive industry is fairly well advanced in this area and carmakers have already been looking to motor racing as a platform for research and development.
For decades this was the case with Formula 1, where road-relevant technologies were first used, which then filtered down to consumers cars. The most obvious examples being seat belts, carbon brakes and even wing mirrors!
The same also applied to the improved performance of internal combustion engines and now, more recently, to battery-electric vehicles. I was fortunate enough to work together with Formula E on the current Gen2 car and develop a battery that has double the capacity with a similar weight.
Formula E cars used to stop mid-way through the race and drivers would have to swap cars. But not anymore, and that shows you how quickly electric technologies are developing.
Now, with our latest venture at E1, we want to transfer this same ethos and learnings from motorsport and in the high-end automotive sector to help push the marine industry in the same direction.
It surely comes as no surprise that as a species we’ve been mistreating our waters and that human-caused actions are destroying precious coastal ecosystems. If we want future generations to continue enjoying our waters then we must also decarbonise water transport.
By combining electric propulsion and hydrofoil technology, we feel this is the best and most efficient solution for future leisure craft and recreational boats. With water 800 times denser than air, the boat lifting off the water will allow for increased energy efficiency and lead to more time between charges.
Neither electric motors or hydrofoils can be considered new technologies. But, with how they’re packaged together in the RaceBird, we hope it can create a trend for future electric foiling boats, where every year is ‘Green Year’.
The issue we now face is to ‘quickly’ come up with clean technology solutions, which match the same level of performance. The automotive industry is fairly well advanced in this area and carmakers have already been looking to motor racing as a platform for research and development.
For decades this was the case with Formula 1, where road-relevant technologies were first used, which then filtered down to consumers cars. The most obvious examples being seat belts, carbon brakes and even wing mirrors!
The same also applied to the improved performance of internal combustion engines and now, more recently, to battery-electric vehicles. I was fortunate enough to work together with Formula E on the current Gen2 car and develop a battery that has double the capacity with a similar weight.
Formula E cars used to stop mid-way through the race and drivers would have to swap cars. But not anymore, and that shows you how quickly electric technologies are developing.
Now, with our latest venture at E1, we want to transfer this same ethos and learnings from motorsport and in the high-end automotive sector to help push the marine industry in the same direction.
It surely comes as no surprise that as a species we’ve been mistreating our waters and that human-caused actions are destroying precious coastal ecosystems. If we want future generations to continue enjoying our waters then we must also decarbonise water transport.
By combining electric propulsion and hydrofoil technology, we feel this is the best and most efficient solution for future leisure craft and recreational boats. With water 800 times denser than air, the boat lifting off the water will allow for increased energy efficiency and lead to more time between charges.
Neither electric motors or hydrofoils can be considered new technologies. But, with how they’re packaged together in the RaceBird, we hope it can create a trend for future electric foiling boats, where every year is ‘Green Year’.
