Speaker 1: We are here at the Formula EA circuit where we're
Speaker 1: looking at Temple Half Airport, really steeped a German history,
Speaker 1: but really containing today the future potentially of automotive racing
Speaker 1: and Formula E. I mean, you can see the cars
Speaker 1: behind me just getting lined up there, and these cars
Speaker 1: there are such a rate of change in terms of
Speaker 1: the technology going into these things. You know, acceleration from
Speaker 1: zero to sixty and one point eight two seconds faster
Speaker 1: than Formula one on that point, But where does this
Speaker 1: go as a business? How do you build the fan base? Well,
Speaker 1: we've got the right person to ask that question too.
Speaker 1: It's Jeff As, the CEO of Formulae, who joins us
Speaker 1: now here at the race.
Speaker 2: In the morning.
Speaker 3: Thanks, welcome to Berlin. Yeah, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: So listen, where are we right now on the journey
Speaker 1: for Formulae. We're ten years in, you're a one year
Speaker 1: into your tenure.
Speaker 3: Where are we stand? So sure?
Speaker 2: So Formula E started just ten years ago, so we're
Speaker 2: effectively babies in the world a motor sport if you
Speaker 2: compare that to something like Formula one.
Speaker 3: Formula one around seventy five years old.
Speaker 2: So we're at the start of our journey, but of
Speaker 2: course we have this wonderful tailwind, this tailwind of electrification.
Speaker 2: When Formulae was started just ten years ago, I think
Speaker 2: that year there were three hundred thousand electric vehicles sold
Speaker 2: across the If you compare that to now this year,
Speaker 2: the estimation is around eighteen million electric vehicles will be
Speaker 2: sold this year. So whilst it feels like we're still
Speaker 2: at the very early point of our journey, around twenty
Speaker 2: percent of all cars in the world sold are electric
Speaker 2: at the moment, we still have that kind of eighty
Speaker 2: percent ceiling.
Speaker 3: We're pushing for.
Speaker 1: And part of that journey is going to be for
Speaker 1: you defining yourself that as just an alternative to Formula ryan.
Speaker 1: So how do you make it not the sort of
Speaker 1: beyond me a Formula one? How are you how any
Speaker 1: possession for there?
Speaker 2: Yes, so obviously everybody speaks to me. They speak to
Speaker 2: me about the comparisons with Formula one, which is perfectly
Speaker 2: logical because we're a world championship, we're single seat of
Speaker 2: racing cars and we're racing on tracks. But when Formulae
Speaker 2: was founded, it had three principles. One of those was
Speaker 2: to be an elite world championship.
Speaker 3: Racing series.
Speaker 2: So it was all about racing, and we would argue
Speaker 2: quite strongly we have the most competitive racing series in
Speaker 2: the world right now. But the two other ambitions were
Speaker 2: one the tech transfer to develop latest electric vehicle technology,
Speaker 2: to be at the cutting edge of EV technology. And
Speaker 2: you see here racing today our manufacturer apartment. So you
Speaker 2: see Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, mahindrast antis Eart. You've seen manufacturers
Speaker 2: and they're developing tech on the racetrack that will make
Speaker 2: its way into.
Speaker 3: Their road cars.
Speaker 2: And the third thing we found it for was sustainability.
Speaker 2: So we wanted to be a platform that could educate
Speaker 2: the world around climate change and the role that electric
Speaker 2: vehicles can plain decarbonizing road transport.
Speaker 3: So three things.
Speaker 1: And so I mean the rate of change has been
Speaker 1: absolutely breathtakings where I mean, you've doubled the horse power
Speaker 1: in ten years. The new carrier putting out at the
Speaker 1: end of the season is going to go, you know,
Speaker 1: accelerate thirty percent faster. I mean, these are really breathtaking
Speaker 1: sort of changes in technology.
Speaker 3: What more is coming?
Speaker 1: What does the sport look like in a couple of years.
Speaker 2: So really the really simple answers to that is when
Speaker 2: you look at the car development. Longer, faster, Yeah, the
Speaker 2: two things people want to see. So today the racing
Speaker 2: and formula is about forty to fifty minutes long, which
Speaker 2: actually is really interesting because it's really good for family viewing.
Speaker 2: So we're attracting a different audience to traditional motorsport like
Speaker 2: Formula one, where the.
Speaker 3: Race is about an hour and a half long. But
Speaker 3: we want to have.
Speaker 2: The ability to race for longer in the future, and
Speaker 2: that means batteries with bigger capacity.
Speaker 3: And the same thing is faster. I mean, this is
Speaker 3: a mostor sport. Everyone wanted to go faster, so you're right.
Speaker 2: We announced a car that will be on the track
Speaker 2: for next year will be thirty percent faster than the
Speaker 2: current Formula one car, not to sixty and one point
Speaker 2: eight two seconds.
Speaker 3: But also people like a bit of top end speed
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: So these cars you see behind you here will go
Speaker 2: about two hundred.
Speaker 3: Miles an hour at the top end.
Speaker 2: Over time, I would expect to see they go to
Speaker 2: two twenty two thirty two forty. So the cars are
Speaker 2: getting faster, the batteries are getting bigger.
Speaker 1: So here's the question, will it ever be fair so
Speaker 1: than a Formula one.
Speaker 3: But it's already faster than the Formula one in acceleration seation,
Speaker 3: you know, if we wanted to.
Speaker 2: And I think one of the interesting obviously for bloomboag
Speaker 2: viewers that are very interested in business, one of the
Speaker 2: key things is the economic return on investment. So if
Speaker 2: you think about formulae, the cost cap in Formula EE,
Speaker 2: so the amount these teams can spend every year is
Speaker 2: around thirteen million euros.
Speaker 3: That's all they can spend.
Speaker 2: If you compare that to Formula one, where the cost
Speaker 2: cover is about one hundred and forty million dollars, so
Speaker 2: they have around ten percent of the budget to play with.
Speaker 3: So of course if I gave.
Speaker 2: Them a budget of one hundred and forty million euros,
Speaker 2: they could develop cars that would.
Speaker 3: Go much faster than Formula one cars with the let technology.
Speaker 2: But the reality is we view ourselves as an inclusive motorsports,
Speaker 2: not an exclusive one. This is not about the richest
Speaker 2: organizations in the world taking past.
Speaker 3: We want everyone to be presmably.
Speaker 1: You want to grow your sponsorship, you want to grow
Speaker 1: that beast. You want to get more money in because
Speaker 1: it will bring more fans and there will be a
Speaker 1: virture say at the.
Speaker 2: Right pace, we need to support our manufacturers here because
Speaker 2: a lot of them we're using the racetrackers of laboratory
Speaker 2: to develop new technology. So it's about manufacturers and teams.
Speaker 2: It's about growing a fan base and that's growing very quickly,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned upfront. And then it's about growing the
Speaker 2: total value of the organization.
Speaker 3: But where would you like that to be? Whe would
Speaker 3: you like to see the total value?
Speaker 2: Well, so we don't talk about our value today publicly.
Speaker 2: We have two very large investors in Liberty Global, Warner
Speaker 2: Brothers Discovery, but as I say, this is a business
Speaker 2: that's only ten years old, so they're investing for what
Speaker 2: they believe the future of this business could be.
Speaker 3: I think fan based, though, is a good proxy.
Speaker 2: So when I started about a year ago, the fan
Speaker 2: base in formulary was about two hundred and.
Speaker 3: Ninety million fans globally.
Speaker 2: As of now, the latest time we did the big
Speaker 2: survey it was up to nearly four hundred million fans,
Speaker 2: so around thirty percent growth in a year.
Speaker 3: This is a business that's growing exceptionally.
Speaker 1: Quickly, and in terms of the other thing that you
Speaker 1: need to do is also attracting other OEM's other manufacturers
Speaker 1: to the sport, right your West Mercedes BMW, they step back.
Speaker 1: What I'm surprised by is that there are now more
Speaker 1: Chinese automakers full league who have really dominated the EV race.
Speaker 3: Are you in conversations with them?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: So you have the big Chinese automotive group, so b
Speaker 2: YD now becoming prevalent across the world. In fact, I
Speaker 2: think the biggest EV manufacturer now in the world, You've.
Speaker 3: Got Guinea Group. Could you see a BYD team and
Speaker 3: the absolutely see a BYD team.
Speaker 2: I could see a Geelee Group team like Lotus or
Speaker 2: Zeka Saic who obviously owned brands like MG approssibly, so
Speaker 2: absolutely I can see your Chinese team. We actually have
Speaker 2: two Chinese teams here, we have eer T, but.
Speaker 3: We also have in visions.
Speaker 1: What about a Tesla team.
Speaker 3: I think Tesla's unlikely, and I'll tell you why. I
Speaker 3: think it's unlikely.
Speaker 2: So all of the teams here are racing on a
Speaker 2: common battery, so I'm not sure that Tesla would be
Speaker 2: so keen to run on a back that isn't their own.
Speaker 2: The second thing for Tesla I would say is they
Speaker 2: are you know they are the dominant force in the
Speaker 2: electric vehicle manufacturer. They were the people that started it
Speaker 2: all pretty.
Speaker 3: Much with the roadster. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: They don't need the exposure, so they don't need the
Speaker 2: pr around it. And the final thing I would say
Speaker 2: is a lot of the teams here have been racing
Speaker 2: informed for a long time. Tesla would not be competitive
Speaker 2: from day one, and I'm not sure how that would.
Speaker 3: Fit with that a challenge I would love you long
Speaker 3: to call me. I'm just not sure will the top
Speaker 3: of their list.
Speaker 1: And in terms of your fan base and wererowing a
Speaker 1: on some from scratch, where are you seeing the biggest
Speaker 1: pick up? Where are your biggest fans, Where are the
Speaker 1: most successful right now?
Speaker 3: So Southeast Asia, across China.
Speaker 2: We have over one hundred million fans in China alone,
Speaker 2: so growing incredibly to your point about the Chinese DV
Speaker 2: market growing, But our fan base is very different to
Speaker 2: motorsport traditionally. So if you think about our fan base
Speaker 2: roughly split fifty to fifty male female, that's incredibly different
Speaker 2: to motorsport. Roughly half of our fans are under the
Speaker 2: age of forty and they all have an interest in
Speaker 2: climate chain sustainability, innovation and technology, so it's a quite
Speaker 2: a different audience. So whilst it's growing quickly, it's growing
Speaker 2: outside of a traditional motorscall base.
Speaker 1: Jeff Dodds, thank you so much for Formulae joining us
Speaker 1: here at Temple Hoff Raffeld Airport. The racetrack that's happening,
Speaker 1: The race cappening this weekening Saturday and Sunday, starting at
Speaker 1: three pm tomorrow and as you can see, all the
Speaker 1: cars getting prepped and ready for the race tomorrow