The UIM E1 World Championship is the world’s first all-electric boat championship. It is a competition very similar to Formula 1, only on the sea and on board the so-called RaceBird, electric boats that are an engineering prodigy.
Alejandro Agag is the founder of E1, and also of Formula E, the world’s first electric single-seater championship. At the beginning of 2023, Rafa Nadal announced his participation in the UIM E1 World Championship, with the purchase of his namesake team: Team Rafa. Already immersed in the competitions, the pilot of his team has shown on social networks what the interior of the boat is like.
The 12 UIM E1 World Championship teams compete aboard RaceBird, a superyacht concept inspired by nature and birds. They are boats seven meters long and two meters wide. They are equipped with foils, lateral sheets that stabilize and support the boat like the wings of an airplane, strategically located so that the boat can turn faster. They also have an outboard motor.
They are fully electric boats, with a 35 kWh battery. They have a maximum power of 150 kW, thanks to which they can reach speeds of up to 60 knots, which is equivalent to about 111 kilometers per hour.
Cris Lazarraga, pilot of Rafa Nadal’s team, has shown on social networks what the inside of the cockpit or cabin of the boats is like. They have a steering wheel with several buttons, one of them for the radio. There is also the boost button, a kind of turbo that you can use every 40 seconds and it works for 20 seconds.
Another button allows you to change the maps on the screens and another is used to change the sensitivity of the trim, a system to regulate the seat based on sea conditions and speed. On the screens, they consult information such as the race flags, the position of the lift and trim, their position in the race, how many laps are left, circuit maps and other technical parameters.
Victory Marine is the company in charge of the engineering and manufacturing of the boats, designed in collaboration with SeaBird Techologies. The initial design of the boats was planned as an open cockpit, but they ended up being completely closed for safety reasons. “The visibility is quite reduced, but we see enough to give gas,” says the Team Rafa pilot in her video.
One of the purposes of the competition is to promote electrification in the world of yachting. For this reason, the championship will install charging stations for its boats in the ports where the races are held.
