On August 11, at the Hankook Tire & Technology headquarters in Pangyo, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, officials attending the Formula E partnership signing ceremony are taking a commemorative photo. From the left, Soo-il Lee, President of Hankook Tire & Technology; Hyun-beom Cho, Chairman of Hankook & Company Group; Alejandro Agag, Chairman of Formula E; Jamie Reigle, CEO of Formula E. Photo by Hankook Tire
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Hankook Tire & Technology announced on the 28th that it will officially begin its sponsorship as an official partner of the world’s premier electric vehicle racing competition, the ‘ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (hereinafter Formula E),’ organized by the F?d?ration Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
Starting from the 2022-2023 season, Hankook Tire will serve as the exclusive supplier of electric vehicle racing tires and technical partner for Formula E for the next four years. As the first step, a commemorative event was held on the 27th (local time) at the Swarovski Crystal World in Austria. At the event, Hankook Tire and Formula E officials unveiled the electric vehicle racing tire ‘iON,’ which will open a new era for Formula E.
Based on years of expertise, Hankook Tire met all the strict tire requirements demanded by Formula E, including top motorsport performance, consistent performance, application of eco-friendly materials, and low rolling resistance.
The electric vehicle racing tire ‘iON,’ developed in close cooperation with the FIA, was specially tailored for the Formula E 3rd generation (GEN3) vehicles. At the same time, by using eco-friendly materials, it continues Formula E’s goal of eco-friendly racing and sustainable values. The tires used in the races are planned to be 100% recycled afterward.
The 2022-2023 Formula E season is the first season to introduce 3rd generation vehicles that increase the top speed from the previous 280 km/h to 320 km/h. A total of eight global automaker brands, including Porsche, Nissan, DS, Maserati, McLaren, NIO, Mahindra, and Jaguar, participate to compete and demonstrate the excellence of their latest electric vehicle technologies. Accordingly, Hankook Tire also plans to enhance the completeness of the competition with the best tires. From this season, the British sports car brand ‘McLaren’ and the Italian high-performance luxury car brand ‘Maserati’ will also join.
The 2022-2023 season’s first race will take place at the Mexico City E-Prix in January 2023. Approximately 40,000 global spectators are expected to visit the venue to watch the first race of the Formula E 3rd generation equipped with Hankook Tire’s electric vehicle racing tire ‘iON.’ The vast amount of electric vehicle and tire data accumulated through the competition will also be utilized in the development of tires dedicated to electric vehicles.
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