Fuel cells in racing applications

The Extreme E off-road racing series is a competition for off-road vehicles with electric motors that has been running since April 2021, aims to raise awareness of global warming and has also set itself the goal of gender equality: A team always consists of one male and one female driver who take turns at the wheel. With ten races per year, Extreme E takes place in five locations particularly affected by climate change.

It started in Jeddah/Saudi Arabia in mid-February 2024, followed by competitions - probably in the UK, then two in Sardinia and finally one in the USA. But the season that has now started could be the last, speculates the internet portal for electric motorsport called e-Formel.de: "The announcements about the 'Extreme H' series are piling up. This could become an official FIA World Championship as early as 2026 and replace Extreme E."

Extreme H is the name of a new competition series for hydrogen-powered SUVs equipped with a fuel cell. Alejandro Agag, Spanish entrepreneur, former politician with a seat in the European Parliament and founder of Formula E and Extreme E, wants to introduce it in 2025.

Extreme E has already had experience with fuel cells for some time, as the racing series itself produces the electricity for the participating vehicles in a climate-neutral way using hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells on site. For this purpose, portable solar cells in front of the events generate green hydrogen by electrolysis. The electricity generated by the fuel cell is buffered in an energy storage unit and then used to charge the vehicle batteries, which takes around one and a half hours per car. If the detour via storage and battery were eliminated and the required electricity was produced in the car itself, refueling would be just as fast as the supply of fossil fuel. (aum)