Faraday Future has announced a technical partnership alliance with the Dragon Racing Formula E Team – it will become the core technical partner and title sponsor of the team, the US-based, Chinese-backed global company announced at the 2016 FIA Formula E London ePrix.
Faraday Future, founded in 2014 and based in Gardenia, California, is focused on the development of intelligent electric vehicles and mobility solutions. Today it has more than 850 employees globally. Its financial partner is Chinese tech giant LeEco.
Formula E – the FIA Formula E Championship – is a class of auto racing that uses only electric-powered cars. The series began in Beijing in 2014, and was conceived in 2012.
The team – Faraday Future Dragon Racing – aims to take the number one spot in the world of Formula E next season. (Image: twitter.com/FaradayFuture)
Dragon Racing is a US auto racing team that is involved in several areas of motorsport. The team, based in Los Angeles, California, competed in the IndyCar Series until 2014, when it became one of the founding FIA Formula E teams. Los Angeles is the world’s largest electrical vehicle (EV) market. Dragon Racing also has operations in the UK at the Donington Park racing circuit.
Faraday Future Dragon Racing
The new team will be called Faraday Future Dragon Racing – and the partnership will officially be launched at the start of Season 3 (2016/17) at the Formula E Hong Kong ePrix on 9th October, 2016.
The new partnership was announced by Faraday Future and Dragon Racing executives.
Faraday’s Global Chief Brand & Commercial Officer, Marco Mattiacci, said:
“Formula E has placed a significant emphasis on electric performance and connectivity, which makes it a great fit for Faraday Future,” said Mattiacci. “Formula E has leveraged a community of fans and embodies the competitive spirit that we also share.”
WATCH @loicduval @DragonRacing & @RFrijns @MSAmlinAndretti coming together at T11 #LondonePrix https://t.co/6GPJ9AqT0E
— FIA Formula E (@FIAformulaE) 3 July 2016
Mr. Mattiacci will oversee the company’s involvement with Formula E at executive level, as well as the partnership with Dragon Racing. Nick Sampson, Senior Vice President, Global R&D and Engineering at Faraday, will lead the technical cooperation.
Ding Lei, Co-Founder, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of SEE Plan, LeEco, said:
“The strategic partnership with Faraday Future is a critical part of LeEco’s SEE plan. LeEco gives its full support towards Faraday Future Dragon Racing, and believes in the future of Formula E, as it aligns LeEco’s vision for future eco-transportation. We look forward to working closely with Formula E in this new and exciting motorsport.”
Regarding the new partnership, Mr. Sampson commented:
“Partnering with Dragon Racing allows us to further showcase our electric vehicle leadership and technical capabilities in one of the most exciting Formulas in the world. I clearly see Formula E as the right venue to challenge our engineers and technologies in the most extreme performance conditions.”
FIA Formula E President, Alejandro Agag, said:
“We are thrilled to welcome Faraday Future into Formula E. Faraday Future is a brand that is targeting the highest standard in terms of design, R&D, and manufacturing of electric cars.”
“We couldn’t be happier that they have chosen Formula E to challenge some of the greatest car companies in the world. This announcement again proves that Formula E is truly the future of motorsport.”
Dragon Racing’s car, the zero emission Venturi VM200, a world-leader in high performance electric vehicles. (Image: dragonracing.com)
Partnership aims to improve vehicle performance
Dragon Racing and Faraday Future will work together during the coming season to develop key technology software solutions to enhance performance capabilities with the vehicles’ powertrains.
Faraday Future’s R&D engineers will look for opportunities with the Dragon Racing platform to further improve overall drivetrain performance. They will also refine data acquisition and analytics to enhance vehicle simulation models, which will help make more accurate predictions of vehicle performance and efficiency.
During the following season – Season Four (2017-18) – and the ones after that, Dragon Racing and Faraday Future will work closely together to implement a number of Faraday powertrain components, firmware, software, and other hardware as the engineers see fit. This could include Faraday’s gearbox, motors, and the FF Echelon Inverter – the same inverter that will be installed into every future Faraday Future production vehicle.
Dragon’s racing drivers, (Left) Loic Duval and (Right) Jerome D’Ambrosio. (Image: dragonracing.com)
Mr. Lei said:
“We are excited to see our partners make such significant strides to bring their technology to different aspects of the electric vehicle movement. Faraday Future’s strategic partner, LeEco, will also be involved in the sponsorship with Dragon Racing.”
“LeEco has deep roots in sports and entertainment and plans to help its partners promote the platform. Electric, intelligent racing joins LeEco’s pursuit of the future mobility Ecosystem and sports spirits.”
Jay Penske, Dragon Racing Team Owner and Team Principal, said:
“It’s an honor for Dragon Racing to form this ground-breaking alliance with Faraday Future. Formula E symbolizes a vision for the future of motorsports and the automotive industry, and Faraday Future’s strategy for next-generation connected electric vehicles aligns seamlessly with Dragon Racing and Formula E.”
“We at Dragon Racing are already looking forward to Season 3, and collaborating with some of the finest engineers and technologists in the EV and motorsport industries.”
Check out highlights from the full 2015-2016 #FormulaE season.https://t.co/NDSum3ywmc
— SPEED (@SPEED) 3 July 2016
The Dragon Racing team finished second in the inaugural 2014/15 Formula E season with drivers Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Loic Duval.
The Formula E championship is currently contested by nine teams, with two drivers in each team. There were ten teams before Team Trulli withdrew temporarily). Racing is generally held on temporary city-centre street circuits which are about 1.2 to 2.1 miles (2 to 3.4 km) long. Currently, only the Mexico City ePrix is held on a road course – a modified version of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Video – Faraday Future partners with Dragon Racing
This video shows the announcement of the partnership between Faraday Future and Dragon Racing for FIA Formula E Season 3.