Tomorrow, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship returns to the iconic Monégasque streets for the fifth time.
Monaco has already marked an important milestone for the Championship, with the Gen3 racer for Season 9 onwards officially revealed yesterday. The car will be faster, lighter and more powerful than its predecessors, in addition to being the most efficient with at least 40% of the energy used produced by regenerative braking during the race.
For ABB, Season 9 also marks the start of its role as Official Charging Supplier. Together with engineers from motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, and Formula E, ABB is developing an innovative and safe solution for charging the Gen3 cars. These portable charging units will be able to charge two cars simultaneously, delivering 80kW of power to each vehicle, for a total of 160kW output per charger. This means each race team will benefit from a ‘double charging’ capacity from one unit and a significant reduction in the charger footprint.
Alongside the FIA and Formula E, ABB is also working with fellow Championship ecosystem member, Shell, to drive progress in e-mobility. Yesterday ABB E-mobilty announced it has signed a new global framework agreement with Shell to supply ABB’s end-to-end portfolio of AC and DC charging stations. Through this collaboration, ABB E-mobility and Shell will help address two of the challenges to increasing EV adoption – charging infrastructure availability and the speed of charging. The companies have been working together on the roll out of public charging infrastructure since 2019 and this latest agreement takes that collaboration to the next level.
This weekend the championship will be showcasing the pinnacle of EV technology on track around Port Hercules, the perfect backdrop for another sustainable technology: ABB’s shore connection technology which enables emissions-free port stay. One such example is in the Port of Marseille, where three Corsica Linea ferries will cut emissions and noise pollution by using electricity for power at berth instead of running diesel-fueled auxiliary engines. This proves that existing vessels can significantly reduce environmental impact with technology that is available to shipowners today and enables the type of emissions-free ship power that regulators, ports and local residents increasingly demand.
At last season’s Monaco E-Prix, the drivers competed on a slightly revised version of the full F1 circuit for the first time, resulting in a thrilling overtake-filled race with a battle right up to the finish line. The 19-turn, fast, narrow street circuit is in use again this year and its 3.32km take in such famous corners as Casino Square, Mirabeau, the Grand Hotel Hairpin and Portier.
It was also in Monaco last year that ABB announced its partnership with FIA Girls on Track. As part of this, the latest video in ABB’s series to highlight the many incredible women working in the Formula E paddock was released today. It features the FIA’s Formula E Technical Manager, Alessandra Ciliberti who is overseeing the development of the future Gen3 car in addition to all technical aspects of the Championship.
Following the Monaco race, the Championship will return to Berlin for rounds 7 and 8 on May 14/15.
In Berlin, ABB will be holding an exclusive event with MAN on Friday 13th May at Tempelhof around megawatt charging systems. Speakers at the event will include Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, Volker Wissing; ABB’s E-mobility president, Frank Muehlon; MAN CEO, Alexander Vlaskamp and spokeswoman for the European Clean Truck Alliance, Kristin Kahl.
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries.
Source: ABB Formula E
