2021: A climate Odyssey
The series’ premise is not simply the show, but also documenting the state of the planet’s ecosystem [and] conducting environmental science research
Extreme E’s founding purpose is to counteract climate change by accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) using motorsport as a platform to deploy and showcase EV technology. However, the series’ premise is not simply the show, but also documenting the state of the planet’s ecosystem, conducting environment science research and showcasing equality. If it sounds like a lot within one programme, it is.
To make it all that much more challenging, none of the Extreme E racing locations have an established racing infrastructure. As such, all the equipment needed for the series is carried by the RMS
St Helena, a decommissioned postal ship. It is also Extreme E’s operating base and home to teams, garages, hospitality, broadcast facilities and scientific laboratories.
From here, all operations that you’d see in a pit lane, a climate research facility, broadcast media centre and nine race teams’ workshops all must work.
At time of writing, Extreme E had completed three events – the Desert X-Prix, Ocean X-Prix and Arctic X-Prix, held in Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Greenland respectively.
Design criteria
Fred Riser, chief engineer of mechanical development at Williams Advanced Engineering, is responsible for the 18 Extreme E cars during the season. Riser recounts early discussions about the series, saying, ‘I have worked in engineering and operations for
