E1 Series shares calendar for inaugural electric boat racing season, but delays start
The world’s first electric boat racing series has been teasing its forthcoming schedule for over a year, and it has finally arrived… although it’ll start a tad later than expected. The UIM E1 World Championship Series has unveiled its official race calendar, which will begin in Saudi Arabia and continue through several beautiful coastal cities in Europe.
The UIM E1 World Championship is a developing electric boat racing series created by Formula E and Extreme E founder, Alejandro Agag, and Rodi Basso – a former director of Motorsport at McLaren with a background in Formula 1 engineering.
We’ve been covering the young marine sports series for over a year as its inaugural season has been consistently promised to begin in 2023. Most of our recent coverage has involved new team owners, including tennis great Rafael Nadal and most recently, renowned footballer Didier Drogba.
During those team updates, E1’s founders have consistently teased a calendar of the forthcoming E1 races across various marine-centric cities around the globe, but we had yet to see it. To date, we’ve only known that Rotterdam, Netherlands was in play following a contract signing in September of 2022.
Venice has also been highly anticipated as a potential race location on the inaugural E1 calendar as the city sponsored the series’ first ever team. Plus, you know… it’s surrounded by water. Today, the growing league has a (relatively) set race schedule that will kick off in early 2024.
E1 Series kicks off race calendar in Jeddah
Earlier today, the UIM E1 World Championship Series shared its official race calendar and explained how the world’s first electric boat races will work. Due to the unique foiling of the RaceBirds (the electric boats designed for E1), the races must take place close to shore. This will allow spectators to catch the full action of each race safely from the land.
Each E1 race event on the calendar will take place over the course of two days consisting of practice sessions, qualifying rounds, and knock out races to determine the winner. RaceBird pilots will compete head-to-head in multiple heats with the fastest teams advancing until a winner is crowned.
Those excited about E1’s inaugural season will have to wait a bit longer however, as the first race – last mentioned as coming in late 2023 – has now been pushed to January 2024. Here’s the full E1 calendar to date:
- January 2024 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- February 2024 – TBD, Middle East
- April 2024 – Venice, Italy
- May 2024 – Venice, Italy
- June 2024 – TBD, Europe
- July 2024 – Monaco
- September 2024 – Rotterdam, Netherlands
The delay in the start of the inaugural season calendar could benefit the E1 Series, since, as we’ve previously pointed out, it needs more teams. To date, there are only four confirmed teams (Venice, Mexico, Team Nadal/Spain, and Team Drogba/Ivory Coast). Previously, the E1 Series founders have said that at least ten teams will compete. E1 cofounder and CEO Rodi Basso spoke:
It’s a fantastic day for the UIM E1 Championship as we confirm our first ever racing calendar. After opening the racing in the Middle East, the action will move to Europe where we will be racing in the historic and beautiful harbours of Venice and Monaco, before culminating in the vibrant port of Rotterdam. We keep the door open on new venues for the calendar and expect to confirm very soon. It’s an exciting time for the UIM E1 Championship as we attract more teams and cities to be part of our fast-growing journey.
According to the new racing league, more teams will be announced soon. We will be sure to keep you in the loop as we approach race one in Jeddah next year. Looking forward to it!
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First Solar just cut the ribbon on a huge new factory in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, and it dwarfs the New Orleans Superdome. The company’s $1.1 billion, fully vertically integrated facility spans 2.4 million square feet, or about 11 times the size of the stadium’s main arena.
The factory began production quietly in July, a few months ahead of schedule, and employs more than 700 people. First Solar expects that number to hit 826 by the end of the year. Once it’s fully online, the site will add 3.5 GW of annual manufacturing capacity. That brings the company’s total US footprint to 14 GW in 2026 and 17.7 GW in 2027, when its newly announced South Carolina plant is anticipated to come online.
The Louisiana plant produces First Solar’s Series 7 modules using US-made materials — glass from Illinois and Ohio, and steel from Mississippi, which is fabricated into backrails in Louisiana.
The new factory leans heavily on AI, from computer vision that spots defects on the line to deep learning tools that help technicians make real‑time adjustments.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says the investment is already a win for the region, bringing in “hundreds of good-paying jobs and new opportunities for Louisiana workers and businesses.” A new economic impact analysis from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette projects that the factory will boost Iberia Parish’s GDP by 4.4% in its first full year at capacity. The average manufacturing compensation package comes in at around $90,000, more than triple the parish’s per capita income.
First Solar CEO Mark Widmar framed the new facility as a major step for US clean energy manufacturing: “By competitively producing energy technology in America with American materials, while creating American jobs, we’re demonstrating that US reindustrialization isn’t just a thesis, it’s an operating reality.”
This site joins what’s already the largest solar manufacturing and R&D footprint in the Western Hemisphere: three factories in Ohio, one in Alabama, and R&D centers in Ohio and California. Just last week, First Solar announced a new production line in Gaffney, South Carolina, to onshore more Series 6 module work. By the end of 2026, the company expects to directly employ more than 5,500 people across the US.
Read more: First Solar pours $330M into a new South Carolina solar factory
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No, it’s not the new Bolt. GM’s design team previewed a new high-riding “sporty Chevrolet EV” that should be brought to life.
Is Chevy launching a new sporty EV?
This is the all-electric vehicle Chevy should sell in the US. General Motors’ design team released a series of sketches previewing a sporty new Chevy EV.
Although it kinda looks like the new 2027 Chevy Bolt EV as a higher-sitting compact crossover SUV, the design offers a fresh take on what it should have looked like.
The new Bolt is essentially a modernized version of the outgoing EUV model with a similar compact crossover silhouette. Nissan adopted a similar style with the new 2026 LEAF as buyers continue shifting from smaller sedans and hatchbacks to crossovers and SUVs.
Will we see the sporty Chevy EV in real life? It’s not likely. For one, the “exploration sketch” is by GM China Advanced designer Charles Huang.
GM Design posted the sketches on its global social media page, but the caption read “Sporty Chevrolet EV for the China Market.”
It’s too bad. The Bolt could use a sporty sibling like an SS variant. Chevy introduced the Blazer EV SS (check out our review) for the 2026 model year, its fastest “SS” model yet. Packing up to 615 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, the Chevy Blazer SS can race from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds when using Wide Open Watts (WOW) mode.
Will the Bolt be next? I wouldn’t get my hopes up. And if GM does bring the sporty Chevy EV to life, it will likely only be sold in China. Like all the fun cars these days.
What do you think of the design? Would you buy one of these in the US? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
While deliveries of the 2027 Bolt are set to begin in early 2026, Chevy is offering some sweet deals on its current EV lineup, including up to $4,000 off in Customer Cash and 0% APR financing for 60 months.
Ready to test drive one? You can use our links below to find Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Silverado EVs at a dealership near you.
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Environment
Podcast: Electricity is the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss electricity becoming the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, the new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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