Vancouver Formula E race cancelled

Organizers of a Formula E race that was set to take place in Vancouver over the Canada Day weekend have decided to pull the plug, cancelling the event, with the possibility of rescheduling it in 2023. (Canadian E-Fest - image credit)
Organizers of a Formula E race that was set to take place in Vancouver over the Canada Day weekend have decided to pull the plug, cancelling the event, with the possibility of rescheduling it in 2023. (Canadian E-Fest - image credit)

An electric race car event known as Formula E and three days of related events that were set to take place in Vancouver this summer have been cancelled, according to the company promoting the event.

"OSS Group has had to make the incredibly difficult decision to postpone Canadian E-Fest until 2023," the company's public relations representative said in written statement on Friday.

As of Friday evening, the Canadian E-Fest website was still marketing the event, which was set to include a concert headlined by Canadian band Nickelback, as well as a two-day conference on sustainability with former Mexican president Felipe Calderón as a keynote speaker.

The main event was to be a Formula E race, taking place on a track around the north and east sides of False Creek.

"The City of Vancouver confirms that today One Stop Strategy Group Inc. (OSS) has elected to exercise its rights under the Host City Agreement to postpone the Formula E Event," a spokesperson for the City of Vancouver said in a short emailed statement.

The statement said that OSS Group and city officials would continue to work together to announce a new date for the event.

The event promoter said it would communicate with ticket holders to "inform their options."

In 2017, Montreal city officials announced they would pull the plug on a Formula E race that was set to take place in that city the following year.

The mayor said the event was "headed straight for a financial fiasco," and that taxpayers would be on the hook for $35 million.

Formula E isn't the organizer of the Vancouver event, though it appears to have a degree of oversight with regard to the OSS Group-promoted race, which is part of the Formula E series.