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Engineered for the extreme

Extreme E

Extreme E race car driving through mud
#Extreme E

About Extreme E


BROADCAST INFORMATION

ALULA, SAUDI ARABIA - APRIL 04: Molly Taylor (AUS), Rosberg X Racing during the Desert X-Prix at AlUla on April 04, 2021 in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Charly Lopez / LAT Images)

Driving electric vehicles to new heights of endurance

You place the highest demands on our tyres, and that’s why we embrace every challenge – to pursue new milestones in performance and safety. And now that we’re a Founding Partner of Extreme E, a fresh adventure is about to begin. Join us in a race series that ventures into uncharted territory: tracks in the most inhospitable corners of the world, sustainable off-road vehicles with a powerful electric drive, and a racing series where victory is only possible through perfect coordination between vehicle and driver. 

| Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Extreme E Testing October 2019| Location: Chateau De Lastours| Series: Extreme E| Country: France |

Extreme races to the remotest corners of the world

Think an electric car is only for commuting in the city? Think again. The new season of Extreme E will take you to the planet's most remote and most untamed regions. With teams of professional drivers competing in extreme conditions for the ultimate prize, motorsport has never been more exhilarating.

With the momentum of the Formula E series, where global audiences have grown to 330 million in just four seasons, the time was right for a whole new kind of racing event. Extreme E brings high-performance sports utility vehicles to the harshest road conditions imaginable, where only the most fearless drivers, aided by precisely engineered technology, can succeed.

Extreme E sees 10 teams with one male and one female driver compete in 5 locations across the globe. And as a founding partner of the series, we will once again provide custom-built tyres to ensure the perfect grip, whether in South America, the Saudi Arabian desert, or the beautiful coastline of Sardinia.

 

The race
Extreme E car driving in the desert.

Extreme E is also an innovative format addressing important trends in our industry like electrification, trends towards SUVs, as well as aiming to create awareness in the topic of sustainability.

The series aims to combine world-class motorsport and driving in the most demanding environments in the world, providing manufacturers with an important platform for research and development of their sustainable mobility solutions. 

Location, location, location to the extreme

Absolutely integral to the Extreme E experience is the RMS St Helena, a former Royal Mail ship which transports the teams and our intrepid competitors to five different race locations around the world.

The ship has been transformed and upgraded with a multimillion pound retrofit, and doubles as an operating base and floating paddock for the global expedition; it has a state-of-the-art garage plus a central hub for operations, logistics, communications, and accommodation.

So where will the Extreme E adventure lead us, and what challenging conditions will the drivers face?

ExtremeE

Next Race Information


17 – 18 February 2024: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Season 4 gets underway once again in Saudi Arabia, after 2 seasons in the futuristic NEOM, the show moves to the coastal city of Jeddah where Extreme E competitors will face sweltering heat, arid and sandy terrain. 

Saudi Arabia

13-14 July 2024: To be confirmed

Final location will be announced soon.


14-15 September & 21-22 September 2024: Sardinia, Italy

Sardinia's spectacular coastline and diverse Mediterranean. terrain make it an ideal location for an Extreme E race. So much so, that the series is returning to the Italian island for the fourth time in Season 4 with 2 races in a row. But this will be no beach holiday, as competitors will know all too well by now. The drivers will have to contend with gravel, maybe even rocks and changes in elevation. Four-wheel drive will be essential to help the cars deal with slippage on the shifting surface.  

Coast of Sardinia

23-24 November 2024: Phoenix, USA. 

United States will host an Extreme E race for the first time, being an important milestone for this season. The championship will be decided in Arizona´s desert. 

Arizona´s desert

The toughest tyre ever made

Extreme E is the most extreme racing series the world has ever seen. A new race, held under such unique and challenging conditions, required a new kind of tyre. As an Extreme E Founding Partner, we’re doing our bit to ensure all competitors have the best possible equipment to deal with whatever trials they face. We carefully examined the requirements of the race series and built an ultra-high-performance tyre which specifically addresses the needs of the competing teams. The performance optimised tyres are not just built for extreme conditions, but also for the unique requirements of the competing pure electric SUVs.

Scorching heat or blistering cold; muddy, sandy or icy – no matter how extreme the conditions, the drivers and their vehicles need a reliable tyre that provides grip, traction and excellent performance at every stage of the race. Our CrossContact™ LX, the basis of the tyre developed for Extreme E, is a well-balanced all-season touring tyre with a specially designed tread to enhance traction and stability on practically any surface.

For season 2, we’re taking things to another level. Our new CrossContact™ tyre is all about sustainability, keeping with the Extreme E tradition of fostering environmental consciousness. Our CrossContact™ is now more sustainable than ever, with one-third of the tyre made of reused materials.

An extreme race requires extreme tyres

Rally driving has never been so electric

All Extreme E participants use the same set of standardised equipment. That’s where motorsport manufacturer Spark Racing Technology comes into the picture; they will create, assemble and deliver a brand-new electric SUV model for the brave pioneers of the off-road racing series.

Another critical component of the Extreme E cars will be the battery. The same company which assembled the batteries and cells for the first four seasons of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, Williams Advanced Engineering, is responsible for this essential item.

About Extreme E infographic

How to win the extreme e championship

Extreme E is a global racing championship that sees all-electric SUVs battle head-to-head in some of the world’s most extreme environments.

There are two days of racing per event. The qualifying sessions will take place on the first day before the final rounds will be held on the second day. Each team races twice on day 1 in grids up to four cars. At the end of day 1, the top four progress to semi-final 1 and the bottom four go into semi-final 2, the so called “crazy race”. The top three from semi-final 1 progress to the final, but only one from the all-or-nothing “crazy race”. The winner of the final wins the X prix.

The off-road stages will be around 5 miles (8km) in length, and there will be two laps per race. After the first lap the drivers have to switch so that one lap is driven by the female and one lap driven by the male driver.


How to build an all-electric SUV for extreme racing

Extreme E´s all electric SUV, called Odyssey 21, is equipped for races under the harshest conditions. Discover the impressive car.


Supercharged format since season 3

Extreme E is a global racing championship that sees all-electric SUVs battle head-to-head in some of the world’s most extreme environments. Since Season 3 in 2023, Extreme E is back with more action than ever with a brand-new format.

Unlike in Seasons 1 and 2, where each location hosted one race event over the course of a weekend, the new format includes two separate race events – one on Saturday and one on Sunday – meaning double the chance for wins, podiums and all-important points.

Each day will host a complete race event, from Qualifying through to the Grand Final. A race event starts on Saturday with two rounds of Qualifying, both consisting of two heats with five cars each. The top five teams progress to the Grand Final for a shot at reaching the podium, while the remaining five teams can still claim valuable Championship points in the Redemption Race.

The best part of all? The format repeats on Sunday, so all teams get another chance at glory!

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