The first World EV Day

If you have any interest in electric cars, ABB Formula E, or e-mobility in general, you won’t have missed that yesterday was the very first World EV Day.

It was set up as a way of drawing attention to something that we can all see happening around us: the mobility transition that is taking us from internal-combustion engines to vehicles powered by electricity.

I was part of a Zoom panel discussion organised for World EV Day and I was asked how my experience as a racing driver in ABB Formula E is helping to grow awareness of electric vehicles and maybe change people’s ideas about how they can make the switch to driving electric.

Having competed in ABB Formula E, and now having a test role for the Porsche Formula E team, the power and potential of electric cars is not new to me. But the big change that I can see happening is how more and more people are suddenly becoming aware of EVs and starting to think ‘maybe that’s for me’.

I’ve had this experience myself. Even as a motor-head who grew up loving fast cars with big engines, I’m thinking that driving electric has to be the way to go. When you see the range and performance of a car like the Porsche Taycan – Porsche’s first all-electric car – you realise that more and more of us will be choosing an EV for our next car. Maybe you signed the World EV Day pledge already? If not, you can do it by clicking this link.

The speed of change in the way people are thinking about EV’s really is amazing and it’s pretty special be a part of that as a driver in ABB Formula E and an ambassador for ABB – the world’s leading fast-charger manufacturer.

Even 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined that we would be racing in EVs, but if you look at the championship now you can see that manufacturers find it hard not to be involved, if they’re serious about developing their e-mobility technology and transferring it to their road cars.

It shows clearly that EVs are the future and to be involved with the racing and showing the way for the future is really  cool. You can almost feel the change in people’s thinking when you look at Instagram and you see them saying that EVs look cool or that they’re really fast, then sharing all this with their friends.

It’s the younger generation who are leading this because they’re already so aware about green issues and trying to move towards an emissions-free future. And even the hard-core racing fans are being drawn in, because they can see the quality of the racing that’s happening in ABB Formula E.

And because they are attracted by the racing, they are exposed to electric vehicles. Then when they come across a car like the Taycan they’re amazed because they would never have thought it could be electric. But it is – and it’s part of this growing awareness of how cool and stylish the latest generation of electric cars are.

So that’s when you see it’s really all starting to come together and that a cool initiative like World EV Day is only going to get bigger and better. I was proud to be a part of it.