Formula E CEO Jeffrey Dodds Talks Racing

We are here at the Formula EA circuit where we're looking at Temple Half Airport, really steeped a German history, but really containing today the future potentially of automotive racing and Formula E. I mean, you can see the cars behind me just getting lined up there, and these cars there are such a rate of change in terms of

In the morning.

Thanks, welcome to Berlin. Yeah, thanks so much.

So listen, where are we right now on the journey for Formulae. We're ten years in, you're a one year into your tenure.

Where are we stand? So sure?

So Formula E started just ten years ago, so we're effectively babies in the world a motor sport if you compare that to something like Formula one.

Formula one around seventy five years old.

So we're at the start of our journey, but of course we have this wonderful tailwind, this tailwind of electrification. When Formulae was started just ten years ago, I think that year there were three hundred thousand electric vehicles sold across the If you compare that to now this year, the estimation is around eighteen million electric vehicles will be

We're pushing for.

And part of that journey is going to be for you defining yourself that as just an alternative to Formula ryan. So how do you make it not the sort of beyond me a Formula one? How are you how any possession for there?

Yes, so obviously everybody speaks to me. They speak to me about the comparisons with Formula one, which is perfectly logical because we're a world championship, we're single seat of racing cars and we're racing on tracks. But when Formulae was founded, it had three principles. One of those was to be an elite world championship.

Racing series.

So it was all about racing, and we would argue quite strongly we have the most competitive racing series in the world right now. But the two other ambitions were one the tech transfer to develop latest electric vehicle technology, to be at the cutting edge of EV technology. And you see here racing today our manufacturer apartment. So you see Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, mahindrast antis Eart. You've seen manufacturers and they're developing tech on the racetrack that will make its way into.

Their road cars.

And the third thing we found it for was sustainability. So we wanted to be a platform that could educate the world around climate change and the role that electric vehicles can plain decarbonizing road transport.

So three things.

And so I mean the rate of change has been absolutely breathtakings where I mean, you've doubled the horse power in ten years. The new carrier putting out at the end of the season is going to go, you know, accelerate thirty percent faster. I mean, these are really breathtaking sort of changes in technology.

What more is coming?

What does the sport look like in a couple of years.

So really the really simple answers to that is when you look at the car development. Longer, faster, Yeah, the two things people want to see. So today the racing and formula is about forty to fifty minutes long, which actually is really interesting because it's really good for family viewing. So we're attracting a different audience to traditional motorsport like Formula one, where the.

Race is about an hour and a half long. But we want to have.

The ability to race for longer in the future, and that means batteries with bigger capacity.

And the same thing is faster. I mean, this is a mostor sport. Everyone wanted to go faster, so you're right.

We announced a car that will be on the track for next year will be thirty percent faster than the current Formula one car, not to sixty and one point eight two seconds.

But also people like a bit of top end speed as well.

So these cars you see behind you here will go about two hundred.

Miles an hour at the top end.

Over time, I would expect to see they go to two twenty two thirty two forty. So the cars are getting faster, the batteries are getting bigger.

So here's the question, will it ever be fair so than a Formula one.

But it's already faster than the Formula one in acceleration seation, you know, if we wanted to.

And I think one of the interesting obviously for bloomboag viewers that are very interested in business, one of the key things is the economic return on investment. So if you think about formulae, the cost cap in Formula EE, so the amount these teams can spend every year is around thirteen million euros.

That's all they can spend.

If you compare that to Formula one, where the cost cover is about one hundred and forty million dollars, so they have around ten percent of the budget to play with.

So of course if I gave.

Them a budget of one hundred and forty million euros, they could develop cars that would.

Go much faster than Formula one cars with the let technology.

But the reality is we view ourselves as an inclusive motorsports, not an exclusive one. This is not about the richest organizations in the world taking past.

We want everyone to be presmably.

You want to grow your sponsorship, you want to grow that beast. You want to get more money in because it will bring more fans and there will be a virture say at the.

Right pace, we need to support our manufacturers here because a lot of them we're using the racetrackers of laboratory to develop new technology. So it's about manufacturers and teams. It's about growing a fan base and that's growing very quickly, as you mentioned upfront. And then it's about growing the total value of the organization.

But where would you like that to be? Whe would you like to see the total value?

Well, so we don't talk about our value today publicly. We have two very large investors in Liberty Global, Warner Brothers Discovery, but as I say, this is a business that's only ten years old, so they're investing for what they believe the future of this business could be.

I think fan based, though, is a good proxy.

So when I started about a year ago, the fan base in formulary was about two hundred and.

Ninety million fans globally.

As of now, the latest time we did the big survey it was up to nearly four hundred million fans, so around thirty percent growth in a year.

This is a business that's growing exceptionally.

Quickly, and in terms of the other thing that you need to do is also attracting other OEM's other manufacturers to the sport, right your West Mercedes BMW, they step back. What I'm surprised by is that there are now more Chinese automakers full league who have really dominated the EV race.

Are you in conversations with them?

Oh?

Yeah, of course.

So you have the big Chinese automotive group, so b YD now becoming prevalent across the world. In fact, I think the biggest EV manufacturer now in the world, You've.

Got Guinea Group. Could you see a BYD team and the absolutely see a BYD team.

I could see a Geelee Group team like Lotus or Zeka Saic who obviously owned brands like MG approssibly, so absolutely I can see your Chinese team. We actually have two Chinese teams here, we have eer T, but.

We also have in visions.

What about a Tesla team.

I think Tesla's unlikely, and I'll tell you why. I think it's unlikely.

So all of the teams here are racing on a common battery, so I'm not sure that Tesla would be so keen to run on a back that isn't their own. The second thing for Tesla I would say is they are you know they are the dominant force in the electric vehicle manufacturer. They were the people that started it all pretty.

Much with the roadster. I'm not sure.

They don't need the exposure, so they don't need the pr around it. And the final thing I would say is a lot of the teams here have been racing informed for a long time. Tesla would not be competitive from day one, and I'm not sure how that would.

Fit with that a challenge I would love you long to call me. I'm just not sure will the top of their list.

And in terms of your fan base and wererowing a on some from scratch, where are you seeing the biggest pick up? Where are your biggest fans, Where are the most successful right now?

So Southeast Asia, across China.

We have over one hundred million fans in China alone, so growing incredibly to your point about the Chinese DV market growing, But our fan base is very different to motorsport traditionally. So if you think about our fan base roughly split fifty to fifty male female, that's incredibly different to motorsport. Roughly half of our fans are under the age of forty and they all have an interest in climate chain sustainability, innovation and technology, so it's a quite

Jeff Dodds, thank you so much for Formulae joining us here at Temple Hoff Raffeld Airport. The racetrack that's happening, The race cappening this weekening Saturday and Sunday, starting at three pm tomorrow and as you can see, all the cars getting prepped and ready for the race tomorrow