Cape Town - The much-anticipated electric racing (Formula E) event is estimated to bring R2.2 billion indirect economic impact to Cape Town.
The project’s delivery partner, e-Movement, made these projections as it estimated the number of tourists expected to descend to the city as well as the jobs to be created in making sure the event goes off without a hitch.
The announcement of Cape Town E-Prix has sparked widespread interest in the last few months.
Now the organisers have revealed some of their plans in the lead-up to the race weekend which include a 20-car road trip from Tshwane to Cape Town, a festival and simulated driving race.
Chairperson of e-Movement Iain Banner said they estimate around 7 000 local and international visitors would arrive to provide much-needed foot traffic to some of the City’s restaurants and attraction sites.
“Local suppliers will be contracted to deliver certain aspects of the event. This includes security, catering, infrastructure hire, event and hospitality management, media and marketing and critical race elements,” he said.
Banner and his partner, Bruce Forsyth, who is the company’s CEO, founded e-Movement in 2019. They created the company, along with other partners, to secure the rights to bring Formula E to Cape Town.
Banner said they immediately began the process after establishing whether Cape Town would be prepared to host an event of this nature.
“Fortunately, we’ve secured the rights to the race. In doing all of this, I realised that the race is a celebration and a message carrier for carbon neutrality and sustainability,” he added.
All teams partaking in the event will be charged by green molecules generated from a solar photovoltaic mini-grid. This mini-grid is housed in a container powerful enough to charge 25 households.
The event promoter previously confirmed to the Weekend Argus that this will be more than enough to meet Formula E’s requirements, to prohibit load-shedding interference with the event.
The first Formula E racing event was hosted in Beijing in September 2014. Now, nine years later, the Mother City will be home to the acclaimed sport that is fast gaining traction.
The provisional date for the race weekend is February 25. Banner said this will be confirmed by October 19.
E-Movement plans to launch celebrations for the Cape Town E-Prix by hosting a festival, which will start 10 days before the racing event.
An electric vehicle road trip with 20 electric vehicles will kick off the celebrations by driving in a convoy from Tshwane to Cape Town.
“The vehicles will pass through towns to cities with an electric torch in the lead vehicle each day,” Banner said.
“This torch is symbolic of our mission to move to a green economy. The torch will be held to the mayor of each town on arrival,” he added.
Once the vehicles get to Cape Town, their journey will end at the top of Signal Hill.
“We will run a regeneration challenge here. Regeneration is a method of increasing the driving range of electrical vehicles by minimising vehicle fuel consumption,” he said.
Banner said a second-generation Formula E vehicle by the City of Cape Town and e-Movement will be released ahead of the race.
“We plan on taking that vehicle to every area so that people in the communities can see the power of electric vehicles, and how they compare to other vehicles on the road,” Banner said.
Previously Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, told Weekend Argus they were looking forward to exciting show the organisers were putting together a week before the race to showcase the best of e-mobility and renewable energy.
A two-day electric festival will be hosted before the race.
“This two-day activation will expose the public to electric bicycles, Segways, one-wheelers, skateboards and charging solutions,” he said.
And the Friday before the race weekend, the simulated driving Africa championships will be launched.
“This will allow people to play Cape Town’s track in a simulated challenge and compete against each other,” he said.
He added: “This will culminate in an EDM festival to create hype, heart and soul.”
Africa’s Green Economy Summit will be hosted by e-Movement in the two days leading up to the race.
“This will focus on e-mobility and green hydrogen. We’ve invited the ministers of environment, project trade and industry and project leaders of green economy projects in 22 countries on the continent,” he said.
“We want to connect projects with the global economy and our aim is that this event will become to the green economy what the mining indaba is to the mining sector,” he added.
The City’s board of trade, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the proposed bunce is likely to swell.
“The R2.2bn estimate of the indirect annual economic benefit of the Formula E event is a ‘best case’ estimate,” said the Chamber’s president Jacques Moolman.
"The total indirect economic benefit would far exceed this amount over the full five-year period that the City would host the event – with the possibility of a further five years.“
However, Moolman added, the event would also bring value both to Cape Town’s tourism brand.
“It will be of massive value to its fast-growing reputation for hosting successful international events, particularly sports events... The annual Cycle Tour and Two Oceans Marathon are further examples of world class Cape Town sporting events.”
The Chamber said it is actively campaigning for the deregulation of the energy sector, with Cape Town well positioned to benefit from investment into renewable energy.
“Formula E would help showcase what has already been achieved in this area. It would also stimulate further growth in this key economic sector,” Moolman said.