Formula E’s All-Electric Racing Returns to Miami

You think of motorsports and you think of the noise an engine makes when revving up at the start, then accelerating past a rival driver. With one series however, the noise may be different but the racing is no less competitive and for this series, the racing also is used to promote a more sustainable way of transportation.

The all-electric Formula E racing series will be in Miami this weekend for the first time in over a decade, having previously race at a street circuit around Biscayne Bay. This year’s race, the fifth of the season, will be at Homestead-Miami Speedway and its street circuit within the oval best known for hosting NASCAR events. There will be a practice on Friday afternoon before Saturday’s schedule includes practice in the morning, then qualifying and the race at 2 p.m. ET.

“The U.S. is the most important market for Formula E,” said Alberto Longo, co-founder and chief championship officer for the series. “Miami, it brings to us a lot of things. It represents all the values we have in terms of sustainability, inclusion. It’s probably one of the best venues that we’re going to be racing at this season. … I remember us selling out at Key Biscayne. We want to bring people to enjoy our race in Homestead and definitely we are on the way to do it.”

This weekend will be the 17th race in the United States for Formula E, with Germany being the only country to host more races with 20 over 11 seasons. Miami is the fourth U.S. city to host Formula E, having previously been in New York, Los Angeles and Portland.

“The U.S. is a super important market for us and we want to extend the number of races we do there,” Longo said. “We’re looking into more than two races as soon as the following season … we want to expand and we want to be the motorsport of reference in the United States.”

If the weekend consists of a doubleheader, another practice session is added to the second race day before qualifying and race. The season then ends with a doubleheader in London at one of the unique ways to hold an event — around and inside the ExCel: “We are the only championship that can do an indoor and outdoor race in one location,” Longo said.

The London race weekend includes events on July 26 and July 27, one of six doubleheaders this season along with Jeddah, Monaco, Tokyo, Shanghai and Berlin (“if you are in the same market for two races, it also is more impact in terms of media,” Longo said). The series has 16 races this season in 10 locations; Longo said plans for next season will be in up to 13 locations and in the future to be at a maximum of 24 races in 18 locations.

“Having the opportunity to bring motorsport to people and not the other way around was one of the reasons we were born,” Longo said. “We want to be in the biggest global cities in the world. It was a goal from the beginning and only though we are 11 years old, we are the third biggest motorsport in the world behind Formula 1 and MotoGP. … We keep super humble; we keep on working daily to make Formula E bigger and better each year.”

Being an all-electric racing series, the issue of sustainability extends beyond the track. Traveling to and from locations with a minimal CO2 impact has been a focus for Formula E with a reduced number of plans used this season for travel. The series also plans its calendar regionally with DHL as its transport partner.

“We are perceived as the number one sustainable sport in the world,” Longo said. “I think it’s a different way of looking into sports today. When we started thinking about doing something like Formula E, we said we needed to have a differentiating factor. The three biggest differences is we race most of our races in the city center; the second is the sustainability angle and the third is the technology angle.”

In a series known for innovation, Formula E will also continue to amplify the range of electric vehicles in its racing future. In the first full year of the series there was the need to switch cars midway through a race to finish and now, the batteries have doubled in capacity with talk of an ultra-fast charging method for electric vehicles.

“We believe we have had a big and important role in those developments,” Longo said. “We set ourselves as a test ground that manufacturers use to transfer to the mass market and vehicles of the daily life.”

Formula E 2024—2025 Race Calendar

December 7: Sao Paulo
January 11: Mexico City
January 14: Jeddah
February 15: Jeddah
April 12: Miami
May 3: Monaco
May 4: Monaco
May 17: Tokyo
May 18: Tokyo
May 31: Shanghai
June 1: Shanghai
June 21: Jakarta
July 12: Berlin
July 13: Berlin
July 26: London
July 27: London