Extreme E held its first all-electric off-road motorsport race in 2021, showing that electric vehicles can be quite capable in gnarly race conditions. However, the company has revealed an all-new race series called Extreme H, the world’s first off-road motorsport with vehicles running on Hydrogen.
In 2021 at Extreme E’s first event, Rosberg X Racing took first place at the Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia, with drivers Johan Kristofferson and Molly Taylor in charge. The event had a lot of excitement around it due to the off-road Baja-style vehicles being completely electric. A big motorsport event in 2024 will take place to kick things up a notch, with cars running both on electric drivetrains and Hydrogen fuel cells.
Extreme H will also take place in Saudi Arabia, only this time, both races will take place simultaneously, with the same format. The company is reportedly already busy developing its Extreme H car, with the hopes of having a race-ready prototype by early 2023. The Hydrogen-powered vehicle will have the same powertrain and chassis as Extreme E vehicles (pictured below) but will run on hydrogen fuel cells instead of a battery.
According to Alejandro Agag, the founder, “Extreme E was designed to be a testbed for innovation and solutions for mobility. It has become increasingly clear to us that creating a hydrogen racing series is a natural evolution of our mission to showcase the possibilities of new technologies in the race to fight climate issues.” He then went on to state the vehicles will run on “green hydrogen” using a combination of water and solar energy.
For now, it’s unclear exactly what to expect or what conditions need to be met for vehicles to enter. The organizers are looking at two layouts for hydrogen vehicles, those being combined racing or full transition. Either way, off-road racing fans have two more exciting events to look forward to, not to mention the epic vehicles that will hit the dirt.
via Engadget
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