E1 electric powerboat racing league to bring race to Miami in November 2025
As awareness of the implications of climate change grows, the race towards a zero-emission world has become an adopted goal of people across the globe. Chatter about harmful emissions often focuses on cars, and how to make them run on more sustainable sources of energy. However, boats are also a large contributor to global warming, releasing harmful gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
The E1 series, a powerboat racing league, is hoping to bring recognition to this issue. Set in alluring locations across the world like Hong Kong, Venice and Monaco, E1 teams race in electric powerboats to bring awareness and promote the advent of sustainable energy boats.
“We feel that ultimately, like the car manufacturers ten years ago, the boat manufacturers will have to go electric given what’s going on with the oceans,” said Robert Jakobi, a food entrepreneur and owner of the E1’s Team Miami. “Having a fully electric sustainable boat series to showcase boat mobility is very powerful.”
In its first season, the league has already attracted attention across social media. The first race, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had 90 million views across platforms like Instagram, Facebook and X.
Jakobi attributes part of the leagues social media success to the celebrities that own the teams, including Tom Brady, Will Smith and Rafael Nadal among others.
“The celebrities involved have a very big audience,” Jakobi said. “Whether that be Virat Kohli, the biggest star in Indian cricket, Marc Anthony, Tom Brady or Rafel Nadal. That has resonated with our fans and audience.”
“The celebrity backed owners combined with the mission and vision of E1 has created something very powerful.”
The E1 boat series was founded by Alejandro Agag, who also founded a racing league, formula E, which is a motorsport league that competes with electric cars.
“He realized back then that all the car manufacturers would go electric,” Jakobi said. “There needed to be a motor racing series to showcase electric mobility.”
Jakobi believed in Agag’s vision of the league, but also thinks E1 has more potential than formula E.
“I thought E1 had more potential than formula E because of the celebrity component,” Jakobi said. “That for me is a way to grow the sport. On top of that we have a plan down the road to have a docu-series like Formula 1’s Drive to Survive.”
In December 2023, Jakobi, along with Latin-American salsa artist Marc Anthony, launched Team Miami, which will compete in the E1 series league for seasons to come.
“We wanted to build the team around the city of Miami,” Jakobi said. “A lot of the other teams are named after the actual celebrity. We realized that the Miami brand is far more powerful than any celebrity. With the growth of Miami, we wanted to build a team in Miami to rival the other teams like Inter Miami and the Dolphins.”
“We have a long way to go, but we believe there’s so much potential here that we can become a household name in Miami sports.”
Another aspect that makes E1 unique is that it is a mixed gender racing league, with one female and one male mandated for each team.
“That really fosters inclusivity in motorsport, which you don’t have for example in Formula 1,” Jakobi said. “That was a compelling reason to get involved.”
The pilots for Team Miami are Erik Stark from Sweden, a six-time powerboat world champion and Anna Glennon, an eight-time U.S national jet ski champion.
“Erik is one of those guys who’s straight-faced and gets the job done. On the other hand, Anna is someone who’s all over social media,” Jakobi said. “But with the two of them combined, we got for sure the most powerful lineup on the grid and they complement each other very well.”
The evidence is clear, as Team Miami is currently the leader of this season’s E1 series through three races. The team has also gained momentum off the course, partnering with Azimut Yachts, a company looking to manufacture sustainable energy yachts. The next race in the series will occur in Monaco on Sunday.
While Miami residents won’t be able to see one of their newest sports teams compete in season one, they will be able to attend in-person during season two.
After negotiations with the E1 league, Team Miami was able to get the league to sign a three-year deal to sponsor a race in Miami, which will start in November 2025.
The race in Miami will be the first event in the United States and will serve as the season-finale race for the league’s second season.
“We want to do a three-day festival [in Miami], similar to Formula 1,” Jakobi said. “There’s obviously going to be the racing, which will occur for two days. But [we want to do] an acceleration music festival. Marc will help run that with all the Latin-American talent he has access to.”
With the introduction of a new motorsport to the city, Miami may have another annual sports tradition on their way soon.