F1 2014; putting Energy Efficiency on pole position

F1 2014; putting Energy Efficiency on pole position

Today I will be talking at the RWM Energy Event in Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. My theme will the manner in which Formula One has embraced environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, not only to meet the demands of its customers and fans around the world, but as a spring-board to a fascinating future for the sport with fresh opportunities to profit from technology transfer.

As I often point out, selling Formula One – whether to sponsors, fans, television broadcasters or promoters – has not been made easy by the view that we like to burn things. We seem to make a feature out of burning rubber, vast amounts of money, and of course large quantities of fossil fuel. At least, it was that way until now.

The arrival in 2014 of tiny 1.6 litre engines mated to sophisticated electric motors powered by recycled energy has led to a near 40% reduction in fuel consumption, yet with no discernible reduction in performance. It is a remarkable achievement made possible when we applied Formula One’s know-how, innovation culture and timescales to a thorny problem like energy conservation. It may be counter intuitive, but in a ‘less is more’ world, Formula One has some of the answers.

Formula One has been fully involved in the hybrid power train systems seen at the Le Mans 24 Hours in recent years, and its teams have been closely engaged in the creation of the new all-electric Formula E which held its first ePrix on Saturday in Beijing. Companies like McLaren, Williams and Renault have come together to enable Formula E to achieve some very bold objectives in its first year.

So why the shift in priorities for Formula One? Is it green wash? Is it simply playing catch-up to an automotive industry which introduces new electric and hybrid cars on a weekly basis? Is Formula One reluctantly dancing to the tune of the FIA, the sport’s governing body which has made ‘green’ tech a central pillar of its global strategy?

The answer is complex, for while it is indeed the case that it was the FIA which championed the introduction of a hybrid petrol-electric power train, teams like McLaren and Williams had been investing in relevant technologies for some time. Williams has been selling its fly-wheel based energy recovery systems to companies such as Porsche and Audi for years, while the McLaren Group has invested heavily in electric motor technology through its Automotive and Electronic Systems divisions.

As traditional forms of commercial sponsorship has become harder to find, Formula One teams have recognised that a greener future offers two significant advantages to their businesses.

Firstly, having a credible environmental policy, and making measurable inroads into reducing both energy consumption and carbon emissions, makes sound business sense. Our customers, whether commercial sponsors or fans, demand it. When it is not ‘green wash’ but instead real, quantifiable and sustained, it is attractive to customers. Teams such as Sauber have moved to introduce wide ranging changes to their operations, implementing an Environmental Management System covering greenhouse gas emissions, improved energy efficiency at their factory and wind tunnel, and reduced fuel consumption across their fleet.

Secondly, the investment in environmentally sound technologies is providing an opportunity to reach out to new customers. In other words, to make money. When Formula One’s innovation culture became focused on developing energy efficiency power trains, and getting more power out of a given quantity of fossil fuel, it is always going to make giant strides. Such is the nature of our R&D intensive sport.

Hybrid Formula One, and the arrival of Formula E, is helping to demonstrate that this sport cannot only defy its critics, but challenging established wisdom by creating precisely the kinds of technologies which will pave the way for the safe, energy efficient cars of the future.

Having spent the weekend watching the inaugural Formula E event, and then visiting the Goodwood Revival race meeting with its noisy, gas guzzling historic racing cars, the technological transformation going on within motor racing has never clearer.

The new technology is not without its own challenges, however. The very things which appeal to motor racing fans – the noise, the danger and sight of a driver controlling a car at the limit of its adhesion – are under threat in a world of new technology with near silent, utterly safe machines whose performance is predetermined in a virtual environment long before a car is manufactured.

But I am confident this one journey that Formula One can finish in style, not only using clean tech but maintaining the fundamental appeal of watching competitors battle wheel to wheel at 200mph. In these still-early days of new hybrid and electric power train technology, the very fact that we have a titanic battle for this year’s World Championship between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in their energy-efficiency Mercedes Benz cars, bodes well for the future. On track, and off it, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability is going to be a central pillar of the sport from now on.

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