Extreme E-Racing
The lights go to green and three SUVs blast off into the desert, leaving plumes of dust in their wake as they battle against the landscape, and each other.
If that image makes your heart sink at the thought of its environmental impact, don’t worry, because this is the newest innovation in sustainable sport.
This is Extreme E.
Illustration by Nathalie Dickson.
What is Extreme E?
Extreme E is the brainchild of Formula E founder, Alejandro Agag. It involves a series of off-road races between electric vehicles in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments, including the deserts of Saudi Arabia, the glaciers of Greenland and the forests of Sardinia, highlighting the threat of climate change and promoting electrification, sustainability and equality.
Despite only being in its first season, the sport has already attracted several high-profile names. Former F1 world champions Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button both have their own teams, as does current champion Lewis Hamilton. Rally legends Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz are racing, as is 2001 Dakar Rally champion Jutta Kleinschmidt.
Each team consists of a male and a female driver, to promote equality in the sport and to ensure a fair balance between the teams.
How do races work?
Each race, known as an X Prix, is an innovative mix of time trial and racing taking place over the course of two days.
Teams begin by driving two rounds of two-lap time trials on Day One, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, changing drivers between the first and second laps. Teams are awarded points based on where their times are ranked; the top three going through to Semi-Final 1, the next three to Semi-Final 2 and the remaining teams left to compete in the Shoot Out.
Day Two features the Semi-Finals, with the top two teams from each going into the Grand Final to compete for the overall victory.
Each team car features a ‘hyperdrive’, available to each driver on each lap, which provides an extra boost for a limited amount of time, adding an extra element of strategy.
Each race also features a ‘super sector’ – a part of the course with a five-point bonus on offer to whoever completes it in the fastest time over the course of the weekend, giving drivers the incentive to drive well no matter what position they find themself in.
Fans are also given the power to decide the starting grid for the final by voting for their favourite driver, making it a truly interactive sport.
How sustainable is it?
Describing itself as “the first sport born out of concern for the climate crisis”, Extreme E is a signatory of the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Framework and has five core principles:
Promote greater environmental responsibility
Reduce the overall climate impact from sports
Use its platform to educate for climate action
Promote sustainable and responsible consumption
Advocate for climate action through its communications
It has taken several steps to ensure that it meets them, with the aim of achieving a net zero carbon footprint by the end of its first season.
For a start, the championship car, the ODYSSEY 21, is fully electric and is constructed from materials that provide better energy efficiency and are more lightweight, and therefore more sustainable, than conventional automotive materials. The outer shell of the car is constructed from natural flax fibres, reducing its ‘cradle to grave’ carbon footprint by up to 75 per cent while providing safety to the driver. Teams are also required to re-use one set of tyres per race to improve sustainability.
The biggest factor in Extreme E’s sustainability drive is its transportation. The entire infrastructure, including the vehicles and staff, are transported between locations on a single ship, a former Royal Mail cargo-passenger vessel called the RMS St Helena.
The ship has undergone a multimillion-euro renovation, stripping out and rebuilding the engine so it now runs on low-sulphur marine diesel. The propellers have also been refurbished, and the underwater sections painted with anti-fouling paint to make it more streamlined and to reduce CO2 emissions.
On board, the ship has been fully upgraded, reusing as much of the original furniture as possible, and fitted out with low-energy LED lighting, low-water-consumption bathroom fittings, and chairs that are made out of plastic bottles recovered from the ocean. There is even a hydroponic system that allows the kitchen’s chefs to grow their own herbs and garnishes.
Finally, the 20-square-metre swimming pool has been replaced with a fully operational scientific laboratory. Extreme E, in cooperation with the Enel Foundation, invited scientists to apply for space on the ship to conduct research connected to advancing climate science, and five projects have been selected to join the voyage.
The Legacy Programme
In addition to raising awareness about climate change, Extreme E aims to leave a long-lasting positive impact on each location it visits, through its Legacy Programme. This involves working with climate scientists in each location and addressing the most pressing environmental issues that they face.
In Saudi Arabia, it supported the Ba’a Foundation in their efforts to protect the endangered green turtle and the critically-endangered hawksbill turtle by assisting with beach fencing, beach management and raising the level of the beaches to a suitable height for nesting and egg-hatching.
Its efforts in Senegal included helping Oceanium to plant a million mangrove trees in the regions of Casamance and Sine Saloum, and teaming up with EcoBrique to encourage communities to produce Ecobriques (plastic bottles filled with dry, non-recyclable waste), diverting the waste from landfill and turning it into building materials which will benefit communities.
For the recent X Prix in Greenland, it partnered with UNICEF to empower children across the country by helping them to understand the climate-related issues that they face, and equipping them with the knowledge they will need to address them.
How do I watch it?
In order to ensure that race locations are impacted as little as possible, the races are exclusively available to watch online. In the UK, the races can be streamed live on iPlayer as well as on Sky Sports Action, Sky Sports Mix, and the Eurosport Player.
You can also watch highlights of the races on Extreme E’s YouTube channel, and keep up to date with news on their social media pages.
If you want to have a say in the outcome of a race, you can sign up to the GRIDPLAY website (gridplay.extreme-e.com) where you can vote for your favourite driver and give their team the chance to pick their place on the final grid.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, the fourth X Prix will take place in Sardinia, Italy, on October 23rd–24th. Tune in for some octane-free, high-voltage action!
Stefan Glosby
Stefan is a freelancer and writer based in Hertfordshire. He has become increasingly passionate about environmental issues over the last few years and is particularly interested in the way different industries, such as sport and farming, are adapting to reduce their environmental impact.
He loves cooking, pub quizzes, watching nature programmes, documentaries, and regularly enjoys nature walks with his wife, always armed with binoculars.