Home Vancouver Events Calendar Festivals and Events in Vancouver in 2024 Formula E Racing in Vancouver

Formula E Racing in Vancouver

Formula E Racing

The Formula E World Championship tour was set to stop in Vancouver in July 2022. This all-electric street race was to be a fun event on the Canada Day Weekend.

 


EVENT CANCELLED!

On April 22nd organizers of the event announced that the FIA Formula E Race in Vancouver had been cancelled for this year. In June it was announced that the event would not take place in 2023 either. Hopefully a Formula E event can be held in Vancouver at some point in the future.


 

Formula E World Championship

In July of 2021 the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile announced that Vancouver would be a stop on the 2021/22 Formula E World Championship series. The 2021/22 season was the 8th for Formula E and the biggest yet.

Vancouver was set to be the 10th stop on the tour scheduled for July 2nd in 2022. Unfortunately, the event was cancelled. Originally, the event was going to be re-scheduled in 2023 but as of June, 2022, there are no current plans for a future event.

 

What is Formula E Racing?

Formula E began in 2014, making it a fairly recent addition to the global racing scene. The “E” stands for electric, as that is what all the vehicles are. This makes it a fairly different type of race, although the cars can still get quite fast. The vehicles can reach a top speed of around 280 km per hour!

Besides how the cars are powered, there are some other differences between Formula E and the classic Formula 1 series. Formula E races are shorter, and not based on distance or time. The race length is set at 45-minutes + one lap. This is to ensure that the vehicles have enough power to finish the race.

In addition, there are no pit stops for the cars short of an emergency like a busted tire. Beginning a few years ago there is also the “attack mode” feature, where drivers are required to go through a separate path off the main course a few times per race to receive some extra power.

The non-stop driving for the duration of the race along with this “attack mode” quirk means that Formula E prides itself on being a pretty strategic test for its drivers. The electric engines also mean this is among the quieter automobile races around.

 

The Vancouver Race

Vancouver City Council approved of the city being a host for this event back in April of 2021. The plan presented then was for the race to take place out in the city streets, weaving through the False Creek area.

Areas set to be part of the race included Pacific Boulevard, Quebec Street, WestPark Lot 099 and Concord Community Park. Carrall Street and Pat Quinn Way were planned to be closed to make sure no one gets too close to the track, and various other streets in the surrounding area were to be monitored during the event.

The planned circuit was quite similar to the one used by the old Molson Indy Vancouver race which was last held in 2004. There has not been a first Formula E World Championship race held in Canada since 2017 (in Montreal).

 

The Allianz E-Village

While what exactly the race will look like if the event is able to take place in the future is still somewhat unknown, one thing that travels to every Formula E stop is the Allianz E-Village.

The Allianz E-Village is designed as an accompaniment for all fans who want to experience the event. Along with food vendors, some live music and the opportunity to get an autograph from one of the drivers, there are some other neat features.

The E-Village contains a number of large screens that show the action as it happens with live commentary. If you want to test yourself there is a Gaming Arena with driving simulators you can try.

Finally, there are also displays of some of the newest car designs from the competing automotive companies. This includes not only information about the latest Formula E vehicles, but all sorts of racing and consumer creations from the different manufacturers.

 

Other Information

For more information visit the FIA Formula E website.

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