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?