A racing car made entirely from electronic waste has been unveiled by the British Formula E racing team Envision Racing.

The drivable car, named Recover-e, was revealed in London ahead of the city’s e-prix race on 30 July, the final race of the 2022/23 Formula E season. The car was built from donated electronic products, including mobile phones, chargers, laptops, batteries and single-use vapes. The firm aims to highlight the issue of a surge in e-waste generation, which is estimated to reach 75Mt globally by 2031. In the UK alone 1.3M disposable vapes are discarded weekly. 

Envision Racing is part of the Envision Group, a Shanghai-headquartered smart energy technology company. The firm has been part of Formula E since 2014, which is a single-seater championship for electric cars, which was introduced in 2012 to further the electrification of the motor industry. and act as a platform for testing and developing road technologies.  

Another part of the Envision group, Envision AESC UK, produces lithium-ion batteries for Nissan from its plant in Sunderland, UK, and began construction works on its second 12GWh gigafactory in December last year. The company is aiming to reach a total capacity of 25GWh by 2030, and ultimately 30GWh.  Envision Energy has also recently announced a partnership with Harmony Energy Income Trust to provide battery energy storage systems (BESS) for its power plants in Wormald Green and Hawthorn Pit, UK.