The Envision Formula E car will display Professor Ed Hawkins' climate stripes — a colour timeline of global temperatures for each year from 1961–2010, where blue denotes cooler-than-average years and red denotes hotter-than-average years. The stripes, first published in 2019 (downloaded over a million times) and previously used on Reading FC's 2022/23 home shirt, will appear on the car's rear wings for the season starting in São Paulo this December. Both Hawkins and Envision say the livery is intended to spark conversations about climate risks and scientific research.
Formula E Car to Sport University of Reading's 'Climate Stripes' — a Visual Timeline of Global Warming
The Envision Formula E car will display Professor Ed Hawkins' climate stripes — a colour timeline of global temperatures for each year from 1961–2010, where blue denotes cooler-than-average years and red denotes hotter-than-average years. The stripes, first published in 2019 (downloaded over a million times) and previously used on Reading FC's 2022/23 home shirt, will appear on the car's rear wings for the season starting in São Paulo this December. Both Hawkins and Envision say the livery is intended to spark conversations about climate risks and scientific research.
10:51 AM, 11/13/2025Environment
Formula E car to carry University of Reading's climate stripes
A Silverstone-based Envision Formula E car will feature the University of Reading's now‑famous climate stripes, a striking visualisation that shows how global temperatures have changed over time.
Created by Professor Ed Hawkins, each coloured stripe represents a single year from 1961 to 2010, arranged chronologically: blue tones indicate years cooler than the long-term average, while red tones show years that were hotter than average. The stripes will appear on the car's rear wings for the new season, which begins in São Paulo in December.
The graphic first attracted widespread attention when it was published in 2019 and was downloaded more than a million times from the University of Reading's website. It has since been used in sporting contexts before — notably on Reading Football Club's home shirt for the 2022/23 season.
Prof Ed Hawkins said: "It's wonderful to see another sport adopting the climate stripes and using them to spark conversations about the risks we face from climate change. I'm very excited that the design will travel around the world, prompting discussions among fans about what warming means and what can be done."
Sylvain Filippi, team principal of Envision, said: "We're really proud to carry the climate stripes on our car. We race on all continents and the livery invites questions everywhere we go — it's a powerful way to showcase climate-change research and start conversations."
The collaboration highlights how sport can amplify scientific communication, bringing a clear visual summary of decades of warming to global audiences in racetracks and fan communities worldwide.