top view photo of race track

My New Love for Electric Car Racing

Recently I’ve fallen in love with a new favorite competition sport: Formula E racing.

Sure, Netflex made F1 popular again, but you know I always like to focus on the next thing coming, and that’s electric vehicle racing. Since Nissan released the Nissan Leaf, I’ve been a huge fan of electric vehicles, now owning Volvo’s XC40 Recharge (remember the one Starbucks was giving away?)

What’s incredible about Formula E racing vs. its ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) counterpart, is the notion of energy management. While ICE vehicles can only expend energy by burning fossil fuels, EVs both expend and generate energy through a process called regenerative braking. That means when the driver pumps the breaks, the motors are actually harnessing that potential energy and topping off the batteries. This makes braking decisions, turns, and acceleration very strategic maneuvers as drivers’ need to maximize their energy potential throughout the race.

While EVs are growing in popularity, there is still a ton of work to do on building infrastructure to support them, and especially to enable that family road trip. That’s why I’m proud of Marriott International and the hard work through a project led by my colleague Annie Ray, to build out charging infrastructure and EV charging standards for our hotels around the world.

Are you an EV driver? What car do you drive or aspire to own?

One thought on “My New Love for Electric Car Racing”

  1. Hey Peter, great article. I agree, EV racing is really fun to watch and as a tech guy the technology involved in those cars is amazing. I too have a love for auto racing, my son is coming up and we are spending 3 days in Nashville again for the Music City Grand Prix. It looks to be better than last year by what they have lined up! The consumer EV revolution is great and I am definitely a part of it, but the infrastructure is absolutely lacking. For example there is 1 public charging station in Gallatin and only a couple in Hendersonville, which is sad.

    I am glad to see these new buildings and parking structures in Nashville putting in a decent number of stations, the Fifth + Broadway garage is one of them with several ChargePoint stations.

    My wife just bought a 2022 XC90 Recharge plug-in hybrid, she isn’t ready for all electric lol. We have never owned nor even considered a Volvo prior to this purchase and I have to say I am impressed with this vehicle and am a new fan of the Volvo product. It’s so well built and a fantastic vehicle to drive. I will definitely be going all electric when I am ready to get rid of my plug-in hybrid and I will definitely be taking a look at the Volvo line, the C40 Recharge is more my style.

    And I am still a Marriott faithful patron lol, like Delta I feel they offer a fantastic experience and I always enjoy my stays and I am glad to hear they are taking an active approach to the EV future!

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