Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of the FIA Formula E Championship, asserted that the all-electric racing series can play a key role in helping to provide a vision for sustainable mobility in a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, today.
Addressing a selection of industry analysts, media and innovation entrepreneurs, Agag discussed the impact that technology is having on the future of the automotive industry, and how motorsport - especially Formula E – can act as a laboratory to develop clean technologies for all.
“Formula E is more than just a race. Formula E is part of the technology revolution in the motor industry,” he said. “Formula E is the vision of the future of sustainable mobility. We have a mission that will make society better. Our mission is that one day, every car in the world is electric, and every car in the world will be electric. But to achieve that, you need to provide a practical solution.”
Agag stated that the championship is the ideal platform for manufacturers to test technology and explained how Formula E has become one of the driving forces behind the revolution.
“Racing is a motivation for the teams and brands that race to win. Every one of my teams, wants to win. Audi wants to beat Renault, Citroen wants to beat BMW, to show that their technology is the best. To give you an example;, since we started the championship, every season we do two more race laps on the tracks than the year before, with the same battery. This shows you how much Formula E is improving electric powertrains.”
Speaking on the day when Formula E announced Allianz as its latest Official Partner, Agag stressed how mutual co-operation will drive the technological advances and conquer the most pressing issues.
“We have big challenges ahead of us, we have climate change, we have city pollution, we have the problem of producing energy in a sustainable way around the world,” he said. “For all those challenges, technology is the only way. So in a way the technology community, if you want to call it that, all of us in this room, have a big responsibility, which is to provide those solutions.”
Agag also appeared on stage alongside "The Robocar", the world's first driverless electric racing car, which was unveiled by Roborace at MWC. It will ultimately be a part of the track action of a Formula E event and will provide a competitive platform for the autonomous driving solutions that are now being developed by many large industrial automotive and technology players as well as top universities.
“I am proud that Roborace has been a partner of Formula E from the beginning and how lucky I feel, because today we are going to live one big moment of the technology revolution of the modern industry. The future is bright, technology will make sure of that.”