Formula E race on track

• Author: Shahied Joseph shahied.joseph@acm.co.za
• Published date: 23 February 2023
• Publication title: Atlantic Sun

The global event is being organised by ABB FIA, as well as the City of Cape Town and other stakeholders, and while there will be glitches, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis remains optimistic

“We are positioning Cape Town as a leading city for renewable energy and a major event such as Formula E aligns perfectly with this strategic objective. A ticket to the event gives spectators more than just a race day experience as the festival also offers an E-Village dedicated to the fans. These initiatives will assist in strengthening and growing the Western Cape’s strong green economy ecosystem,” said Mr Hill-Lewis.

Eskom announced that the country would be on stage 6 load shedding this week, but Iain Banner, co-founder and chairperson of e-Movement, local Formula E promoters, explained how the Cape Town ePrix will be able to continue despite power outages.

“We have a primary power plan with the City of Cape Town, which provides us with the power we require, other than to the car charges, so there is a big ecosystem here. But as is standard at every Formula E race globally, there is a full set of back-up in the form of generators running on bio-fuel because this is all about sustainability,” Mr Banner said.

“We have a total of 28 generators, which had to be sourced and I undertook it personally, it’s a massive job when every little bit of supply is being absorbed to counter the terrible energy loss that businesses, homes, etc are experiencing. So, it was one of the most challenging elements of it, but the last generator is a 1.4MW machine and will be rolling in to come and finish up the charging.”

Mr Banner said charging a Formula E car takes a tremendous amount of energy.

“The cars are charged by these generators because the instant energy demand is 2MW, which is a huge amount of power and we aren’t situated on a sub-station, we are out in an open area outside of the stadium so that is actually front-line and back-line generators for the car charging,” he said.

With the electricity issue resolved, there are concerns about crime, traffic, and the disruption that such an event brings.

Green Point Neighbourhood Watch (GPNW) is optimistic that it will help the economy.

“With any event of this size, we are concerned about the impact it will have on petty crime such as pickpocketing and common robbery. Unfortunately the event will not only attract spectators but also transients that will opportunistically target those who are here to enjoy the event,” said Peter...