By EC Senior Associate Emily Pape
For me, the sporting summer of 2024 began on the streets of my hometown, Boise, Idaho, with a bike race at dusk and the hum of electric vehicle (EV) engines. The annual Twilight Criterium sees pro cyclists descend on the City of Trees to zip laps around downtown streets at dizzying speeds. This year, however, my eyes were drawn not to the cyclists pushed to their absolute limits, but to the lead-out car—a brand new Hyundai Ioniq 5, wrapped in a local dealership’s livery.
That same weekend, the Tour de France saw not one but two teams debut fully electric team support cars: Uno X Mobility with its two Skoda Enyaqs and US-based EF Education-EasyPost’s Cadillac Lyriq. This is the first year that any team in the Tour has used an EV as a support car, and even the Tour’s race director, Christian Prudhomme, rode in a fully electric Skoda Enyaq iV.
The riders of the roughly 2,200-mile bike race may have been gassed by the end of the Tour’s 21 days, but the Enyaqs and Lyriq sure weren’t. Traveling throughout some of the most challenging, mountainous terrain Europe has to offer, the EVs carried the teams’ spare equipment, food, drink, and a couple of coaches each all the way to the Tour’s end in Nice—and performed just fine.
Turning our attention to Paris, where yet another world-class sporting event takes place this summer (cue NBC’s “Olympic Theme”), we are presented with some of the most incredible feats of sport the world’s nations have to offer—with a healthy side of electric transportation. Toyota, as the official partner of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, has provided 1,000 EVs to the Olympic fleet, including Toyota bZ4Xs and Proaces.
With Los Angeles slated to host the next iteration of the summer games, it is safe to guess that many more EVs will zip around the Olympic Village in 2028. Even sooner, the US, alongside Mexico and Canada, will host the FIFA World Cup in 2026, with plenty of opportunities for EVs to play vital roles in moving players, fans, officials, and everyone else between the 16 cities across North America. Electric road trip, anyone?
For now, I’m looking forward to watching the pink Cadillac Lyriq take on supporting EF’s team in the Tour de France Femmes later this month. As cool as the Skodas and Toyotas are, I’m partial to American-made EVs myself. Allez, allez!