Tennis legend Rafael Nadal is E1’s latest team owner, spotlighting electric boat racing league

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2 years ago

January 10, 2023

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Nascent electric boat racing league UIM E1 continues to make waves ahead of its inaugural season kicking off later this year. Tennis great Rafael Nadal has officially signed on as the league’s latest team owner, representing is native home of Mallorca, Spain. Additionally, Nadal will support the league’s Blue Action Program that helps restore marine ecosystems, working alongside his own academy to promote sustainability through sport.

The UIM E1 World Electric Powerboat Series is a budding championship racing league created specifically for electric boats, brought to fruition 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.

They initially launched the league in 2020 to not only bring a new and exciting competitive platform to the water but to simultaneously develop and promote more sustainable marine technologies to keep city waterfronts clean.

In February of 2021, E1 announced it had partnered with SeaBird Technologies and Victory Marine to develop, manufacture, and assemble the RaceBird – the electric boat that will eventually compete in the E1 World Championship Series.

This was followed by news in April of 2022 that Venice had become the first city to establish an E1 racing team. Following today’s news, Spain has joined the electric marine racing series and will be led by 22-time tennis Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, who is sure to add some much-welcomed celebrity to the cause.

Source: E1

Rafael Nadal launches Team Spain as latest E1 owner

E1 shared news and images of Rafael Nadal’s official signing as the owner of Team Spain. The tennis legend is from the Spanish island of Mallorca, surrounded by a beautiful Mediterranean ecosystem he remains quite passionate about. Hence part of the reason he chose to support E1’s mission well beyond bringing electric boat racing to the masses. Nadal went on:

I’m really excited to be getting involved with a project like E1 that values sustainability and will make a positive impact on society as a whole, especially in coastal communities. I also like the fact that E1 has a clear mission and is committed to preserving marine ecosystems. As a professional athlete, I recognize how making marginal gains has a positive impact on performance. To see this same competitive spirit and approach being applied at E1 to optimize the performance and efficiency of sustainable marine mobility is good news for our oceans.

When the UIM E1 World Electric Powerboat Series begins its inaugural season, “Rafa’s” new team will compete against other countries like Venice and Mexico, which is owned by Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez. However, Nadal has already established a partnership with E1 that extends much further beyond competitive marine racing.

Rafa’s E1 RaceBird design for Team Spain / Source: E1

Rafa will also support E1’s Blue Action Program which is led by the league’s chief scientist, marine ecologist, and fellow Mallorquin native, Professor Carlos Duarte. Together with the tennis star’s Rafa Nadal Academy, E1’s Blue Action Program will develop an overall sustainability strategy throughout the league, while simultaneously supporting the Academy’s sustainability initiatives and commitment to sustainable sport. Duarte also said:

I’m delighted to see tennis legend Rafael Nadal join E1. Rafa epitomizes elite sportsmanship and resilience. As a fellow Mallorquin islander, I know Rafa shares my passion and commitment for marine conservation, and I’m looking forward to having Rafa’s support on this important journey to deliver restoration of marine ecosystems at scale.

Lastly, E1 and the Rafa Nadal Academy intent to collaborate on an international thought leadership event combining the worlds of sport with sustainability. Per the release:

The flagship event will bring the world’s leading sustainability experts together at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, to examine the next level of thinking on sustainability and highlight the positive role that sport can play in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The league states that the UIM E1 World Electric Powerboat Series is still on track to begin later this year and that more teams and racing cities will be announced in the coming months. With only three teams announced so far, there are plenty of slots available to fill the 10-12 spots E1 is planning for the championship series.

Furthermore, at this year’s World Port Days in Rotterdam, Netherlands, E1 intends to deliver a special launch presentation that will showcase multiple electric boats racing, kicking off a countdown to its inaugural championship league season. Considering that Port Days event usually takes place in September each year, we’d expect the electric racing league to kick off its championship series closer to the end of 2023.

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

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3 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonusLucid proves than an EV company can keep its promises while Xiaomi teams up with Chevrolet and Honda to prove – at least conceptually – that records are made to be broken. audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

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This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

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5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

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5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”