The world’s first electric vehicle racing tournament, the “Formula E,” was held in the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit on Sept. 13.
This competition is the very first fully electric racing series hosted by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, and the series will be held in ten cities worldwide including London, the U.K.; Paris, France; and Los Angeles, the U.S. There will be ten rounds in total, counting the first one in Beijing.
This race is the “one make” type, in which the Spark-Renault SRT_01E of the Renault Group is the only vehicle used for all ten teams and 20 racers. This car is capable of hitting 225kph with a maximum power of 200kw (equivalent to a 270 horsepower internal combustion engine). It takes just three seconds to reach 100kph from a standstill.
Participating countries include France, the U.K., Germany, the U.S., Monaco, India, and Switzerland. In Korea also, the Organizing Committee of the International Electric Vehicle Expo and the Korea Automobile Racing Association expressed their interest in hosting the competition.
On the other hand, the market of environmentally-friendly electric vehicles is growing very fast, especially starting from the U.S. and China, as regulations on fuel efficiency are enhanced while the global automobile industry is improving.
The most outstanding aspect is the rapid growth of environment-friendly market centered on China. According to the recent announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, the production of electric vehicles including plug-in hybrid cars surged to 25,946 vehicles until the end of July, 280 percent compared to the same period last year. Especially during the month of July, the production of electric vehicles grew ten times more than the same month last year to 5,799 cars, which proved remarkable growth in the Chinese market. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers projects that 50,000 electric vehicles will be sold this year, which is a 183.4 percent growth compared to the previous year.
Sales of electric vehicles are also constantly increasing in the U.S. According to the industry, sales of electric automobiles reached 66,206 vehicles until the end of July, a 37.4 percent growth compared to the same period last year. The number of models increased as well from nine in 2012 to 19 this year. Plug-in hybrid cars especially led the environmentally-friendly vehicle fever with a 59.7 percent growth in sales compared to the previous year.