The final two races of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship are taking place this weekend as the all-electric series returns to London’s ExCeL Exhibition Centre.

The indoor-outdoor 2.09km circuit in the UK’s capital city, featuring 20 turns, will be filled with wheel-to-wheel action as the drivers battle it out to see who will win not only the weekend’s races but the Season 10 Championship. The winner will take their place on the ABB Champion Throne built with assistance from ABB’s collaborative robot, GoFa™ and made up of broken car parts from throughout the season.

Malgorzata Moussa, Country Holding Officer UK & Ireland, said: “It’s great to once again be racing here in the UK, where ABB is supporting a number of projects in the race for the energy transition and facilitating a circular economy. The ABB Champion Throne is representative of the importance of reusing and recycling, while also showcasing our robotics technology, which is used in a number of industries to reduce waste and improve efficiency.”

The GoFa™ robot assisting with the throne’s construction will also be used in a series of workshops for FIA Girls on Track on Friday ahead of the races. ABB’s workshop in the grassroots program will enable girls aged 12-18 to learn basic programming skills, in addition to discovering more about how robotics can be used to improve sustainability across different industries.

ABB robots are widely used in a range of modular assembly and 3D printing building projects worldwide, as well as academic projects researching new ways to integrate robotic automation into construction. In the UK, ABB Robotics is collaborating with tech start-up AUAR to advance the use of robotic micro-factories to build affordable, sustainable low energy timber homes.  AUAR’s transformative approach to integrating robotic automation into the building process will tackle skills shortages, boost sustainability, and improve health and safety by deploying robots in a global network of local micro-factories.  Prefabricated buildings such as those used in the AUAR project drive material savings, reduce waste, and promote component reuse, fostering a circular economy within the construction industry.

The Championship is a platform for the development of the latest e-mobility-related technologies, a field in which ABB is heavily involved. At the University of Nottingham, a 2 MW dynamometer test stand has been designed and installed by turbomachinery test rig specialists Torquemeters using an ABB motor and drive system. This will support extensive development programs for the electrification of aircraft and other transport.

Another project where ABB is supporting sustainability goals through education is at Imperial College London (ICL), where students get hands-on experience at the world’s only carbon capture training plant. ABB provided more than 250 instruments from measurement and analytics systems to digitalization software and cutting-edge control and monitoring systems. In 2023, ABB extended its partnership with ICL for a further 10 years.

More information on ABB’s sustainability-related technology in the UK can be found on our Race For the Energy Transition web pages.