E1 Electric Powerboat Racing Harnesses Celebrity Power For Motorsport

LifestyleCars & BikesE1 Electric Powerboat Racing Harnesses Celebrity Power For MotorsportByJames Morris,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. James Morris covers the rapidly growing world of electric vehicles.Follow AuthorJun 14, 2026, 05:55pm EDTThe E1 Racebird boats are fully electric and ride on hydrofoils.James MorrisElectric racing has struggled to succeed. Many innovative series have encountered problems, with Formula E the exception rather than the rule. Combining sustainability with another niche – powerboat motorsport – could have been a recipe for disaster. But the electric E1 powerboat racing series has gone from strength to strength, attracting famous names from acting, sport, and music as team owner figureheads. What has been the secret of its success?“We’re still here,” says Alejandro Agag, Founder of E1, as well as Formula E and Extreme E (recently mutated into Extreme H). “That’s already an achievement. It's always difficult to create a championship, especially in an area like boat racing.” That’s not to say that E1 hasn’t faced problems along the way. “Every championship has difficulty breaking through the media barrier. It’s hard to get broadcasted and very hard to get to the big audiences. That's still our challenge, but if you want to break that wall, first you need to have something that exists. The key to the championships that will survive is to have a business model that allows you to continue without revenue from the media, so when you get the revenue from media it’s on top.”Desirable E1 Racing Destinations, Celebrity Power The incredibly innovative Extreme E series struggled with this problem. Its generally remote race sites meant there was almost never a physical audience, and no potential for marketing these as destinations. “The main success of E1 is the locations,” says Agag. “With some exceptions, like Monaco, they all pay, and in Extreme E we were going to very remote location...