According to reports, a new ‘Hydrogen Working Group’ has been formed to investigate the use of hydrogen not only as a potential fuel in motorsport, but also for “wider mobility”. The new working group consists of F1 technical chiefs, along with other figures from the FIA & Extreme H – a hydrogen-powered off-road racing series scheduled to launch in 2025.<\/p>\n
The group will look into both hydrogen fuel cells and battery systems like those to be used in the Extreme H racing cars. As for the group’s “wider mobility” – this includes looking at use of hydrogen in motorsport infrastructure like transportation, charging, storage & management.<\/p>\n
F1 chief technical officer, Pat Symonds is among the figures on the group’s panel. Symonds stated, Our sport has a tradition of bringing new technologies to the forefront of public perception in incredibly short timescales. We do this by being open-minded to all solutions and embracing cross-functional engineering. He mentioned how F1 is “committed to promoting sustainability\u201d & added, that they need to “explore all areas of decarbonisation of the mobility sector, [which] must include sustainable liquid hydrocarbon fuels, electrification and hydrogen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Extreme H will be a sister series to Extreme E. Both categories will share events and even use the same chassis, but with different powertrains. The Extreme H prototype is expected to be revealed by end of this year, with a testing programme scheduled in 2024. The series will launch in 2025 and aims to have an official FIA World Championship in 2026.<\/p>\n
Mark Gain, Technical Director, Extreme E, also part of the Hydrogen Working Group, stated, “Our transition to Extreme H makes us the pioneers and first-ever testbed of hydrogen technology in motorsport \u2013 not only in our racing cars but also transportation, infrastructure, refuelling processes and safety regulations.”<\/p>\n