Meet Sylvain Filippi

Sylvain grew up in Paris and after obtaining a Master’s degree in business in 2003, he started his career in the automotive industry, working for Mercedes-Benz and smart. He then moved to London in 2007 to expand his career in automotive consulting, leading the Frenchman to discover the world (nascent at the time) of EVs through various projects for OEMs.

Falling in love with the technology (driving an early 2008 Tesla Roadster certainly played a role!) and realising its disruption potential, Sylvain decided to co-found his own start-up in 2009 to set up the world’s first circuit race series for zero emission electric vehicles – the EV Cup.

A strong EV advocate from the early days and an electric car owner himself, Sylvain then moved to Formula E, joining the team from the very beginning in 2013 as a founding member. Now in his 6th season with the team, Sylvain leads the Envision Racing Formula E Team in his role of Managing Director and CTO, where he has overall responsibility of all aspects of the team, from sporting to commercial.

Sylvain has the strong belief that the combination of renewable energy (with energy storage), smart grids and mass adoption of EVs has the potential to radically improve our lives and be part of the solution to fight climate change, hence his passion for Race Against Climate Change (RACC), the team’s sustainability programme.

Sylvain is married with two young daughters, lives in Surrey (England) and splits his time between the team’s London and Silverstone offices. The nature of his job gives little time for hobbies, but Sylvain enjoys cycling and sailing (mostly in fair weather!) and spending time with his young family.