Are you ready for professional electric-car racing? Formula E racing -- using open-wheeled cars powered exclusively by electricity -- gets under way this September, with races from Beijing to Miami.
These sleek cars can easily exceed 150 mph, and provide an oddly compelling sound when they're racing around the track. (Our headline has a tongue-in-cheek mention of the Tesla Model S, but Elon Musk's cars actually compare quite well with a 130 mph top speed -- not to mention the added comfort and safety!)
Motley Fool analyst Rex Moore was able to speak with Qualcomm (QCOM 1.14%) President Derek Aberle at the first public demonstration of Formula E's new fully electric race car. The Spark-Renault SRT_01E debuted at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during CES. Qualcomm is an "official founding technology partner" of the FIA Formula E Championship. In this video, Derek talks about the car's debut, and explains why his company is involved.
A full transcript follows the video.
Derek Aberle: I think it was phenomenal. The vehicle really is amazing, and it's a very unique thing -- something that nobody else has done so far, obviously. I think we're really excited to be a part of this as a founding and a technology partner with Formula E.
Rex Moore: That's what I was going to ask. This would have other benefits, beyond just Formula E?
Aberle: Yes. If we look at what's happened in Formula 1, a lot of the groundbreaking technologies were first developed in the racing series, which were then adopted into mainstream vehicles.
We think, for electric vehicles, this will be much the same way. This will become a technology showcase that will then find its way into mainstream EVs, as well.
