Next year Silverstone will play host to a new event, called Switch Live, which will showcase electric vehicles (EVs) and sustainable transport. The new motoring event is being created to entertain and inform a mainstream audience in sustainable mobility and zero-emission transport.
Hosted at the iconic race venue 26 – 29 May 2022, Switch Live will offer companies the opportunity to showcase their electric cars and mobility solutions to a wide audience. Companies will be able to offer event-goers the chance to see their vehicles on the road, the famous Grand Prix circuit and within the venue’s indoor exhibition space.
Those who exhibit at Switch Live will occupy ‘brand experience hubs’ centred around the Silverstone paddock garages, which were created to suit the demands of Formula One teams.
This will ensure that space costs, and the associated production expenditure to dress that space, can be kept at minimal levels. More importantly, it eradicates the environmental impact associated with the production of large conventional stands.
Inside the Silverstone Wing will be an entertainment-focused live exhibition. This will include virtual-reality experiences, advanced driving simulators, e-sports displays and competitions. There will also be immersive soundscape theatre demonstrations and displays of future connected-car technologies.
For those not old enough to drive there will be a young driver experience. This will provide introductory tuition and sampler driving sessions in a safe environment away from public roads. Parts of the facility will also be given over to presentations of how motoring can be a sustainable and integrated element of the ‘smart home’ and changing lifestyles.
This is will be a great opportunity to show people the importance of driving electric, how simple the cars are to drive and live with day-to-day. Plus, it will demonstrate how cheap the cars to run and the simplicity of charging at home and on the road. Hopefully, this will go some way to reduce range anxiety, often the main reason given for slow electric car adoption.
Giles Brown, Switch Live commercial director, said: “Switch Live will not be an echo chamber for EV-evangelists. It will appeal to a large proportion of consumers, not least because of the planned ban of new petrol and diesel vehicle sales in the UK from 2030.
Crucially, it will make EVs and other forms of electrified personal transport truly accessible to the growing legion of motorists who simply want to better understand, experience and potentially commit to new technologies and make the shift away from the internal combustion engine.”
Stuart Pringle, Silverstone Circuits Limited managing director, said: “Silverstone is determined to lead the race to a sustainable future and Switch Live at Silverstone will provide families with an enlightening, engaging, entertaining, and critically, informative motoring experience, like never before.”
As well as showcasing zero-emissions mobility solutions, the organisers of Switch Live have a target to make the event fully carbon-neutral within the next three years. It will become an exemplar, global-leading sustainable motoring experience and a cornerstone activity for the owners of Silverstone Circuit who are implementing a comprehensive new sustainability strategy.
