The Aussie has starred in the all-electric series since its inception, her and Johann Kristoffersson winning the inaugural title in 2021.
That was driving for Rosberg X Racing which is owned by 2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg.
Taylor was always going to be a top draft pick for Extreme E given that teams are required to field both a male and female driver, and she is one of the top female rally drivers in the world.
However the nature of Rosberg’s initial approach to her nearly caught her off guard.
According to Taylor, Rosberg used the contact form on her website to get in touch about a drive – something she initially thought was a prank.
“I was following [Extreme E] when, I guess it was just before COVID, they announced the concept of the series and started to develop the cars,” Taylor told The Hard Card with Authentic Collectables podcast.
“I was following it quite closely from the beginning and got in touch and said, ‘how do I get involved?’.
“And then we were in lockdown in Australia, teams started to sign on. I actually got an email from my website enquiry form from Nico Rosberg, asking if I wanted to drive for him.
“I thought it was a prank at first, but it turns out it wasn’t.
“It was interesting. We’d run the Subaru factory rally team for four years and then COVID happened and rallying stopped, the programme stopped.
“For a few months there was nothing happening and I was unsure what the future was going to hold. And then a few months later, that really changed everything from my perspective, top go from not knowing what my next drive would be, or if there would be a drive, to suddenly driving in an international category of this calibre.”
Taylor parted ways with the Rosberg outfit after the title-winning season, splitting her 2022 campaign between JBXE (founded by another F1 champ in Jenson Button) and Veloce Racing.
She then joined Veloce – owned by Jean-Eric Vergne and Adrian Newey – full-time for 2023 and will continue with the squad this season.
Her and teammate Kevin Hansen made a strong start to the 2024 season in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, finishing third in both the first and second rounds.
For more with Molly Taylor, watch the full episode of The Hard Card or listen to the podcast.
