Telangana govt inks pact to host Formula E world championship

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is just one step away to host a round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Telangana State and Formula E signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) here on Monday. With this, Formula E will work with the city and State officials to examine the viability of hosting a future E-Prix.

As a part of their global hunt for new locations, Hyderabad has been chosen as a candidate host city for the upcoming season. A team from Formula E is on a two-day visit to the city and expressed their intent to consider Hyderabad for the next season in between November 2022 and March 2023.

Although ideated 10 years ago in 2011 and first race held in 2014 its viewership per race is more than half of the Formula 1 and is increasing every year quite rapidly. Currently, Formula E boasts of a cumulative viewership of 500 million.

"Hyderabad has become an official candidate city, and we are hopeful to be the host of the pinnacle electric car racing championship," said Minister for MA&UD and Industries and Commerce KT Rama Rao while presiding over the signing of LOI between Formula E and the Government of Telangana.

He said, "Hyderabad has a cosmopolitan crowd that has awareness and appetite for such marquee events. This shall be one of the flagship events for the State, putting Hyderabad on the global map, joining the league of Paris, Rome, London, Hong Kong, New York, Berlin, Monaco, a total of 18 cities."

With a progressive and forward-looking Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, Telangana wants to be an epicenter of the EV revolution. It has two dedicated parks coming up for the EV sector in the State, one at Sitarampur village in Rangareddy district and another at Divitipally in Mahabubnagar district.

"Our vision is to become most electrified State in India, in terms of mobility, and events like this will surely enable us achieve that goal. With the State government's focus on green initiatives, Hyderabad turns to be a natural choice for hosting the world's fastest growing sport Formula E," the minister said.

The State government plans to promote awareness around EVs and encourage innovation by hosting an EV summit parallel to the Formula E championship. Leading EV players and charging infrastructure companies from around the world will be invited for the EV Summit.

Alberto Longo, Co Founder and Chief Championship Officer of Formula E, said: "Hyderabad truly has the necessary ingredients to be a probable host of the next season. It has always been our desire to come to India as it a major automotive market quickly adopting EVs. We hope to accelerate this change."

He invited the minister and other delegates to experience the opening rounds of Season 8 racing event at Diriyah in Soudi Arabia on January 28-29, 2022. More than 20 cities are currently vying to be part of Season 9 – the first year of the new Gen3 era of Formula E.

Since its inception seven years ago, Formula E has completed 84 races on the streets of some of the most iconic cities in the world including New York City, Monaco, Berlin, Paris, Beijing and Buenos Aires. As one of the founding teams of the street racing series, Mahindra Racing has competed in every round.

Dilbagh Gill, CEO and Team Principal of Mahindra Racing, said: "It has always been our burning desire to race in front of our fans and have a home race. We are now taken one big step closer to this dream. As many as 24 e-cars will join the racing event on a 2.3-km Hussainsagar circuit of Tank Bund."

Anil Chalamalasetty, CEO of Greenko and promoter of the event said that if all goes as planned, Hyderabad would enter into the final agreement with Formula E in the next three months and could expect a race soon. "We hope our engagement with such global events goes a long way" he says.

Telangana's Director for Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Systems Sujai Karampuri hoped that an agreement to make Hyderabad an official host city will be signed in next 90 days. He pointed out that 60 cities around the world were vying to host Formula E and of them 24 cities are really strong candidates.

He said the organisers were impressed with the 2.3-km long race track overlooking Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city. This event will not only attract the global EV manufacturers to the city but also give boost to the local hotel and tourism industries.

Sujai further said, "Hosting Formula E would transform the city's image globally. It would also bring the leaders of automotive industry who pioneer EV transition. We aim to have many EV companies set up their base in Telangana. Events like this would surely help us get global recognition."