The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Industry News

The world’s first motor racing series only dedicated to pure electric vehicles has been launched in London. With the aim to promote new and exciting EV technology the first races will take place at top racecourses throughout Europe in 2011. cars21.com talked with Organiser Sylvain Filippi.

The London-based EEVRC Ltd has been set up to introduce and run a new pioneering series for electric vehicles, the EV CUP. The racing sector intends to help the car manufacturers to change the image of electric vehicles, from being local runabouts to high-performance, highly-desirable cars. The EV manufacturers THINK, Ginetta, Lightning Car Company and GreenGT have already expressed their support for the series.

“A lot of money has been put into the research and the development of electric vehicle technology in the last years. Now it is time to adopt this technology globally by first changing the perception of the potential buyers. We are creating an opportunity for the EV manufacturers to promote their new electric vehicle technology and to show that it is ready for the market. The EV Cup is the perfect way to combine eco-friendly and innovative technology with the thrill and excitement of motor sport,” says Sylvain Filippi, Partner and Director of Business Development at EEVRC Ltd.

The Race Series

The races starting in 2011 will be separated into three different series: The City EV class is limited to city focused, production vehicles, and will consist of mono-make races. The Sports EV class is reserved for sports production vehicles and the Prototype EV will feature innovative new models. This class is reserved for non-production Electric Vehicles with either front, rear or all wheel drive, with no weight and power restriction.

The Race Schedule

The first events will start in 2010 promoting the EV Cup in Europe and the US. In order to see an real EV racing car, to meet the organisers as well as the race teams, to gain road vehicle information and to register for future test-drives a road show will be organized in Monaco, Los Angeles and London and maybe more cities. The actual first season of the Racing Cup is planned to start in 2011 with several races across Europe, including the UK, France and Germany.

Since the new racing series got already a lot of interest outside Europe it is quite likely that also on other continents events and races will be organised over the next years. Mainly the United Arab Emirates and California are potential candidates.

The EV Cup Team

The team at EV Cup have a wealth of experience in the motor industry, electric vehicle development and motor sport. Directors Sylvain Filippi and Andrew Lee have worked as consultants in projects with main electric vehicle manufacturers for the past eight years. Race Director Grahame Butterworth has more than 30 years experience within motor sport as a competitor, organiser and sponsor.

The Rules

One of the main challenges in setting up these new racing series is to collect and determine the rules for the races. EEVRC Ltd. is therefore working closely together with the major racing organisations. The so-called racing rules, including the flags system, can be taken over from the conventional racing rules. However, the so-called technical rules have to be changed completely since the technology of an electric vehicle is obviously very different. Moreover, the safety rules have to be adopted and defined by doing crash tests to see what happens with the car and the battery when crashing with very high speed.