Now, many is the time that we've sat watching any number of motorsports series on the telly, and declared certain cars to be absolute rubbish. But what if the car itself was actually made out of, well… rubbish?
In the case of the Formula E team, Envision Racing, that's precisely what they've done. Ahead of the annual EPrix race in London over the weekend that bought the 2022 / 23 Formula E season to a close, they unveiled a fully sized, driveable Formula E Gen 3 single seater, known as the "Recover-E" car, at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London's Docklands.
The car was built and designed by Liam Hopkins, a British designer and artist, who constructed the car entirely from used electronic products, including mobile phones, laptops, computers, circuit boards, memory boards and Ethernet cables, donated by schools, Music Magpie and the UK tech industry.
It is all part of a campaign that is being used to drive awareness and action on e-waste, which sadly is a growing problem, and more so here in this country. It is estimated that the UK is on track to produce a staggering 75 million tonnes of e-waste a year by 2031, unless swift action is taken.
Last year, 2022, the UK was the second biggest producer of e-waste behind Norway, generating 36,681 tonnes - a 15% increase from two years previously, in 2020. Amongst the highest contributor to this total was single use vapes. It is believed that around 1.3 million vapes are thrown away every week in the UK.
This is particularly alarming in light of the worldwide raw materials shortage* that has continued on into this year. Lithium, zinc, nickel and tin, for example, are in short supply at present, all of which are essential elements used for, say, mobile phones to create things like batteries, touchscreens and solder on circuit boards, which could pose a serious threat to global supply chains.
Hopkins has said that the design and creation of the car was to "show the issue of e-waste", but also to highlight the potential to bring in and "accelerate the creation of a circular economy", whereby we reduce, reuse and recycle our e-waste more frequently and efficiently.
Visit the Envision Racing website to learn more about the Recover-E car and their Race Against Climate Change campaign. You can book to drive our hybrid and electric powered Tesla and BMW cars at UK wide venues by visiting our Tesla Driving Experiences and BMW Driving Experiences pages today on the Driving Experience website.
