Enel expands commitment with Formula E

Enel is renewing its commitment to the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, becoming the Official Smart Charging Partner and Official Power Partner for the next five seasons of the electric street racing series. The announcement was made today by Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel X, the Enel division dedicated to innovative products and digital solutions, and by Alejandro Agag, Founder & CEO of Formula E, at a press conference held at the media centre for the CBMM Niobium Rome E-Prix presented by Mercedes EQ.

Starting next season, Enel will supply the technology, products and services for charging second-generation electric race cars. Thanks to higher capacity batteries, the new cars will be able to complete the circuit without having to stop to change cars, as they do now. The new Superchargers, which are built by Enel with cutting-edge technology, will have a capacity of 80kW, enough to fully charge the new batteries in the amount of time stipulated in the technical regulations. These new Supercharger batteries will be very light (less than 200 kg), facilitating more efficient transport from one race to the next.

Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel X, says: “Three years after we launched this partnership between Enel and Formula E, today’s announcement of the extension and expansion of our partnership is another step forward in the work we are doing in the field of electric mobility. Thanks to our charging technology and our Superchargers at each event, the new increased capacity and more efficient next generation Formula E cars will be charged and ready to run the entire race distance. Enel’s Formula E partnership underscores our Group’s commitment to promote the advancement of electric mobility at a global level, furthering our research, development and implementation of innovative technology solutions for sustainable transportation.”

Alejandro Agag, Founder & CEO of Formula E, stated: “It’s fitting to announce the expansion and extension of our successful partnership with Enel at their home race in Rome, so close to their headquarters. The ABB FIA Formula E Championship is about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the field of electrification and working with Enel and their fast-charging technology is helping us to drive innovation on a global scale with a lasting legacy. Motorsport is about timing - beating the stopwatch and your competitors. This pursuit for speed is also required when powering and charging your car - both at the track, on the streets and at home in the future.”

The new Enel Superchargers will be previewed at the Group's stand inside the Allianz E-Village of the inaugural race in Rome along with the new electric single-seater presented at the Geneva Motor Show last month.

Enel at the CBMM Niobium Rome E-Prix presented by Mercedes EQ

At the Rome leg of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, which will take place on Saturday April 14th in the EUR district, Enel will bring its innovative technologies to an even more sustainable event: fully digitised micro-grids that, thanks to smart metering and energy management systems, integrate renewables with batteries for energy storage coupled with the most advanced charging infrastructure. Enel will also supply fully certified electricity generated from renewable sources.

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship will also be an opportunity for the city of Rome to show everyone the enormous potential of electric mobility. For this reason, Enel has installed four Fast recharge stations, which are also equipped with free Wi-Fi hotspots, in the EUR district where the competition is being held. These charging stations, which will remain available to electric mobility users after the race, are part of the EVA+ project (Electric Vehicles Arteries), co-financed by the European Commission, of which Enel is coordinator alongside leading car manufacturers (Nissan, Renault, BMW and Volkswagen). The project envisages the installation of 200 fast charging stations along the motorway corridors of Italy and Austria. The four Fast stations join the more than 120 stations already present in the Italian capital and will be the first installed under Enel’s National Plan for charging infrastructure in Rome.

Enel will also be present at the Allianz E-Village with a space dedicated to electric mobility, informing the public of the activities and technologies implemented by the Group. The stand will host all the available electric mobility solutions: from the new Superchargers designed to charge the new electric single-seaters to the fast recharge stations that can fully charge an e-vehicle in about 20 minutes. Other solutions include the new pole-stations for urban areas and the wall box for charging vehicles at home. Visitors will be able to see Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G) in action, which uses electric car batteries to stabilise the grid by connecting cars to a special station that manages electricity flows. Finally, it will also be possible to preview the Juice-Roll, the fast portable charger that will be used to recharge the electric motorcycles that will compete in the first edition of the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup in 2019, of which the Group is title sponsor.