- This may look like the pit from your regular
Formula motor sport race,
but all of these cars are electric.
This is the Formula E world championship
in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
I'm Lucy Biggers, this is "One Small Step."
Today's episode is sponsored by Fidelity.
A motor sport race without gas or combustion engines
may have seemed impossible if you decades ago,
but the ABB FIA Formula E world championship
is in its eighth year.
24 cars race for 45 minutes around a 2.43 kilometer course
near downtown Red Hook Brooklyn.
Because the cars are electric, this busy city center
doesn't have to worry about exhaust fumes.
Explain why Formula E is a great event
for just the entire electric vehicle industry.
- It's so important to have kind of event like this,
with the ABB Formula E really focused on sustainability
and also promoting electric mobility.
Coming to city centers or busy areas like here in Brooklyn,
they're creating awareness
and they're really letting people know
that there's electric mobility, EVs, they're here.
'Cause there's still some people who are not aware
about E mobility and EV charging.
- Electric vehicles were first developed in the 1830s
and became practical for driving by the 1880s.
But by 1912, the mass production of the model T
dealt a blow to electric vehicles.
Discovery of cheap oil in the 1920s
further secured the dominance
of gas-powered cars on the road.
Electric vehicle production dropped off for several decades,
until renewed interest in the 1990s and 2000s.
And in 2010, the Nissan Leaf was launched
as the first commercially available electric vehicle.
As the impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuels
become more apparent every day,
the creators of Formula E understand that electric vehicles
promise a future with less greenhouse gas emissions.
- It's really helping to push the boundaries of e-mobility,
because it's also a test bed for e-mobility technologies.
Whether it's on the car, like efficiencies of the batteries
and software and the powertrain.
So that's all tested on the racetrack,
and then those efficiencies, improvements
are brought to the mass market vehicles and chargers
that you and I can drive in our everyday lives.
- It's estimated that by 2030,
30% of vehicles on the road will be electric.
And by 2040, electric cars could make up 100% of car sales.
So the technological advancement and experimentation
that happens at Formula E is important
for the electric vehicle future.
- What would you say to the skeptic who might think
electric vehicles will never replace gas powered cars?
- The first thing that I would say
is just to electric vehicle, just try one,
because as soon as you step into an electric vehicle
and you try it, just like that torque,
that instantaneous torque, the drive, it's so fun,
and there's so many really cool cars that are out there.
It's such a different drive.
I think what's really cool too is that the battery prices
are decreasing significantly year over year.
So in 2010, battery prices
were about $1,100 per kilowatt hour.
Now it's $130 per kilowatt hour.
And what that means is because a big part
of the cost of an electric car is the battery.
So that price is going down.
So instead in about five years, the price of an electric car
is going to be cheaper on average than a combustion car.
So when you're giving that choice to consumers of,
A, the drive is super, super fun,
and B, the car is cheaper than a combustion engine car,
I think it's gonna be a no-brainer at that point.
- I want to take a moment to thank Fidelity
for sponsoring this episode.
Fidelity's climate action fund allows people
to invest their money in companies that are taking action
against the impacts of climate change.
Not only does this help support businesses
with sustainable practices,
it allows investors to rest easy,
knowing their money is helping the planet
and inspiring change.
Head over to fidelity.com to learn more
about sustainable investing with the climate action fund.
Now, back to the episode.
Alberto Longo was one of the co-founders of the race.
He says the battery technology has improved exponentially
since the first race in 2013.
- I mean, it's impressive.
And it's exponential, every year you can see
like a doubling, tripling.
To give you a clear example in what we call the Gen-1,
which was the first car that we used during four years,
we had to basically swap the cars in the middle
of the race in order to do the whole race.
There wasn't a technology that basically allow us
to charge quick enough to finish the race.
So every driver had two cars.
The world managed to double the capacity of the battery,
in which basically every driver has to use only one car
to finish the race.
Only in four years' time.
Today we're actually tripling the capacity of the battery
in a way smaller and with less weight and battery
than we have used in Gen-1, for example.
- I absolutely love this day at Formula E,
it gives me so much hope for the future,
because this electric vehicle technology,
it's evolved so much in the past decade.
So just think about what the next decade holds.
It's what we need to transition to renewable energy,
and today gave me a ton of hope.
That's all for this episode, thank you so much for watching.
We'll see you next time. Bye!