Pushing limits and awareness with Extreme E

When Formula E was conceived of 10 years ago, it raised no shortage of eyebrows and questions. Would people watch electric cars lapping circuits, devoid of the tell-tale scream of combustion engines? How far would the cars be able to drive on a single charge? Would the batteries be safe? Would any manufacturers want to be involved?

A decade on, and most of those questions have been emphatically answered. The series has gone from strength to strength, attracting growing audiences and many of motorsport’s biggest constructors, while also advancing the frontline of EV technology. Such has been the success, that Alejandro Agag – one of the founders of Formula E – this year launched a new electric series called Extreme E, featuring chunky off-roaders racing head-to-head in some of the world’s wildest and most threatened landscapes.

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With an environmental mission at its heart, Extreme E is aiming to use motorsport to highlight the impact that climate change is already having on our planet, drawing the public in with a style of breakneck EV racing that hasn’t been seen before. Needless to say, the cars take a serious degree of punishment, not to mention the batteries that power them. For battery developer Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), it presented a unique challenge.