Delivering the Future. How Formula E travels the Globe?

How do you deliver 40 state of the art electric cars around the world, yet having carbon emission as low as the cars themselves? DHL has been the logistics partner for the Formula 1 teams and now, they are also the proud partner of delivering the Formula E across 9 countries around the globe.

“The Formula E is a motorsport and entertainment that creates value for the society” as how CEO of Formula E, Alejandro Agag puts it. It that consists of all electric (yes, pure electric powered), single seater race cars (just like F1) racing on the street circuits around the globe. So instead of the usual loud revving sound of race cars, what we will be experiencing are the wheezing sound from the electric motor that will redefine how we look at new generation motorsports.

Not even DHL have superpowers, so a cardboard Formula E will do

When we talk about electric race cars, I bet the first things that comes into people’s mind are boring, slow etc, but mind you, these 270hp Mclaren-powered Spark-Renault SRT-01E accelerate 0-100kmh in just 3 seconds with a top speed of 225kmh (although not as fast as most motorsports but it’s just a matter of time before they reach hypercar speed!) Other than that, the ePrix (Grand Prix for Formula E) had something that had never been seen before in any motorsport, which is the fan boost, you can now vote for your favorite driver and the top 3 drivers will be given an extra power to deploy during a race. So, fans can now be ‘part’ of the race rather than being just spectators!

Now, back to our main topic, how do you deliver the most efficient and advanced race cars around the globe as efficient as the cars themselves? Well, here’s some interesting facts and figures.

This pretty much sums it all up nicely

While utilising rail and sea freight as much as possible, aircrafts are used to deliver the sensitive materials, and in this case, the 320kg lithium ion battery, which according to Managing Director of DHL Express for Malaysia and Brunei, Christopher Ong is the biggest logistic challenge. As these batteries are potentially explosive, containers carrying them are designed to withstand 2 tons (yes 2 tons!) of pressure as well as having the batteries going through a fall test from 6 metres.

The DHL team packs the Formula E race cars, spare parts and lithium ion batteries to be delivered to nine race cities including Putrajaya, Malaysia

While the Formula E revolutionised motorsport, DHL revolutionised the logistics industry. Aiming to reduce CO2 by 30% by 2020 (vs 2007), they have introduced various initiative such as the GoGreen Solutions and doing a part in promoting green technologies and sustainable logistics methods. And that includes using an all electric van to deliver their goods, here’s how it compares to the race car it self:

Although personally I expected more facts and figures about the whole logistic process on the sharing session and more details on how it’s being done just like how they did in MotoGP, but this session by DHL today opens up our minds on how environmental protection and business success are not just compatible, but are closely interlinked, and we can’t deny that sustainable and green solutions are the pathways to the future. Illhami Arslanoglu, VP for DHL Customer’s Solution and Innovation ends today’s session with a quote from famous management guru, Peter Drucker, “The Best Way to Predict The Future is to Invent it.”

Check out the video below to learn more about DHL’s logistic process for Formula E!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f8VbOq7jjf0