António Félix da Costa grew up watching his two brothers race cars, and, ever since his oldest brother took him on a racetrack, he knew it was the choice for him.
"It drives me really," da Costa explained. "You know, it's the thing that makes me get out of bed in the morning. It's something I'm good at, probably the only thing that I'm very good at. And, you know, so I put all my energy, my time, my passion into it."
Da Costa races for DS Techeetah as one of its Formula E drivers, and was the Formula E 2019-2020 season champion. The all-electric car competition joined the FIA World Championship series in 2020, the same governing body that oversees Formula 1.
These cars go fast, up to 173 miles per hour, but they're also sending a sustainable message that the future can be electric.
"I'm not against having races with petrol cars and putting that as a show, but for us on the day-to-day, going from A to B on the streets, why do we need 700 horsepower, V12 cars, you know, polluting the world?" he said.
Formula E Grows
Formula E started in 2014 and has continued to grow. In its seventh season, it visited eight cities during its 15 rounds. Next season, it will expand to 16 races across 12 cities and four continents. The cars are mostly identical to each other, except for the proprietary technology in the back, including the powertrains and software, which have been improving.
"We're running with a lot more power than we did from season one," explained Michael Andretti, owner of Andretti Motorsports. "We're going over twice as far of a distance. So that's what's been pretty amazing."
The evolution has been remarkable, said DS Techeetah Formula E team lead Mark Preston.
"I think at the beginning, most people thought we really thought we were crazy," Preston said. "'You can't race an electric car' to now when we've got new powertrains and new jobs coming up in a couple of years that will take us another step in terms of performance."
Hotbed of Testing
What's more, the technology eventually transfers to the road.
"There's things that we're doing here that's going to end up on your road car," Andretti said. "It's no different than in other types of racing where the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] use it as a testbed to develop new things, new technologies."
Porsche, for example, has committed to a CO2-neutral balance sheet by 2030, meaning most of its cars will be electric. Its Formula E cars will help develop that technology.
"Electric cars are part of sustainability and sustainability is really important to Porsche," said Porsche Formula E director factory motorsport Pascal Zurlinden. "We use [Formula E] as a label to develop the new technology for the future."
Rethinking Race Strategy
But driving an electric race car requires a different kind of strategy. Because the batteries recharge during the race, you have to learn how to conserve energy, said Porsche Formula E driver André Lotterer.
"We all have the same battery capacity and the same power output," he pointed out. "But if you drive flat out in a race, you won't make it to the end. So we need to save like 20 or 30 percent of the energy in coasting and in regenning."
Though it's a different kind of race, it's still fun. Plus it highlights an important cause, the environment.
"This is the first time in my career that we can do this, in such a strong way and do something for the planet, which is very meaningful," Lotterer said. "I think we all have the responsibility to do our share for that."
Dr. Farhan Bhatti, a family physician and Michigan State lead for the Committee to Protect Health Care, joined Cheddar to discuss the newly discovered and highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19. Bhatti said it is too early to draw any conclusions about the new variant but there is concern that it could eventually mutate and develop a resistance to vaccines. "Time will tell, but for now, it looks like, still, the best thing that we can do to try to limit the spread of this disease is make sure everybody gets a vaccine and make sure everybody avoids large gatherings indoors and wears masks during the wintertime especially," he said.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments with the Omicron variant that are spooking markets once again. Twitter's @Jack is leaving, SCOTUS takes up abortion rights and the world has a brand new republic.
A CDC panel unanimously endorsed Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine boosters for all U.S. adults. This comes after the FDA gave its own authorization for everyone 18 and older, scrapping previous eligibility factors like age and underlying conditions. Dr. Shereef Elnahal, President and CEO of University Hospital and former New Jersey Health Commissioner, joined Cheddar News to break down the development.
The Biden Administration is set to buy 10 million courses of Pfizer's Covid pill if it gains emergency use authorization from the FDA. With this purchase, the U.S. will receive more than 13 million courses of antiviral pills aimed at treating Covid and reducing severe illness and death. Pfizer's pill has been shown to reduce risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent, proving it could be a key tool in the fight against the pandemic. Dr. Soumi Eachempati, Co-Founder, CEO & CMO of Cleared4, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
Dr. David Dodson, Infectious Disease Specialist at Carden & Dodson MD, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down what we know so far about the Omicron Covid-19 variant, and why you shouldn't wait for an Omicron-specific shot to get vaccinated.
Friday saw big sell offs, with the Dow Jones posting its worst day since October 2020, falling 905 points, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 each tumbling more than two percent as well. Much of that due to investor concerns over the new Covid-19 'Omicron' variant first detected in South Africa. Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda explains what investors should expect this week.
The ocean is an important topic when it comes to the climate. It plays a vital role in shaping our environment, with rising sea levels causing a 35% increase in natural disasters around the world, affecting 1.7 billion people. Dr. Sylvia Earle has been called perhaps the greatest advocate our oceans have ever had, with Time magazine dubbing her its first 'hero of the planet' and the Library of Congress naming her a living legend. She is also the founder of Mission Blue, an organization that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. Dr. Earle joined Cheddar Climate for more on the importance of caring for the ocean and its impact on climate change.
Scientists are racing to understand the Omicron variant of covid-19 and find out just how dangerous it really is. Omicron, dubbed a variant of concern by the WHO, was first detected in South Africa last week and has already spread to multiple countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and more. Dr. Jonathan Javitt, CEO of Nrx and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, joined Cheddar to discuss what we know and don't know about this new variant.
The House has officially passed the $1.75 trillion social policy and climate big. This new bill is expected to bring some huge investments into working towards fighting climate change. U.S. President of We Don't Have Time, Sweta Chakraborty, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
