Nate Schroeder: “We’re bringing racing to the people”

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Ahead of the Dragon Racing’s third season in Formula E, the American team partnered with Faraday Future, starting a new chapter in their journey in the series. Nate Schroeder, Head of Motorsport and Special Programs, gave our editor Andrea Perilli an interesting insight into this partnership.

The London ePrix marked the end of Formula E’s second season, with a hard fought battle for the championship and a number of exciting races that proved the high calibre of racing that the series has.

But it did not mean everything was coming to an end: American team Dragon Racing welcomed EV developer Faraday Future, a company that would become the team’s title sponsor and technical partner.

Six races into season three, the results many expected may not have come yet, but the team has definitely put on a good show on track, with spectacular performances by both drivers in races like Mexico or Argentina.

With the arrival of Faraday Future, the team is running a new and innovative livery, for instance, that many fans instantly adored. New faces also appeared in the garage, all of them with the aim of making the best of this Formula E journey.

Nate Schroeder is one of them. From his role as Head of Motorsport and Special Programs, he discusses EVs and certain aspects that link both Dragon Racing and Faraday Future in this joint venture.

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“My role is Head of Motorsport and Special Programs. As it relates to Formula E, I’m responsible for the technical and commercial execution from the Faraday Future and Faraday Future Dragon Racing perspective.”

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“Well, certainly where our heart lies is the technical side of things. We are looking to show our technical prowess, related to EV drivetrain development. I think we are going to have a lot to offer in Season 5; but what we’re currently contributing on is software, the simulation side in Season 3. We will be continuing that in Season 4, coupled with some hardware development, where we are working on the low voltage power distribution system.”

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“Personally, what I like the most about the series is that we’re bringing racing to the people and to a new audience, and I think there’s an educational process that’s taking place with consumers when you bring it right to their doorstep what an EV is and what the potential experience is that they might have related to an EV road car, for which Formula E is sort of a test bed for some of those technologies.”

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“I think there are a lot of interesting synergies between the team: we are both based in California which is the largest EV market in the world so we are both immersed into the adoption of EV as partners and understand its importance from having an impact on future mobility.

“And then I think there are interesting tie ups on where we complement each other, we have Dragon Racing and Jay Penske and his Penske Media Corporation, with those very media outlets, and how they synergise to what we are trying to bring to the back seat of the car – we’re trying to create a very interesting mobile media experience in our FF91 road car.”

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“As we demonstrated in Mexico, we can fight for a podium. We’ve been successful in season one and season two, and I think we are in a position going forward the rest of season three where we can fight for a podium finish. Continuing to build and integrate the team, and find the technical synergies of where we can help make the team successful in season three is quite exciting for us.”

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“I think it’s going to take some time but I think in areas like Los Angeles or some of the major Chinese cities, you are going to see a much more rapid adoption of electric vehicles. So yes, I think we are going to see them starting to have an impact; but globally, I think we are going to see an accelerated pace, because you are starting to see all of the OEMs here in Formula E starting to release their strategies to bring EVs to the market around the globe in the next few years.”

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda/ e-racing.net

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