Extreme H Tests The Limits Of Fuel Cells And Green Hydrogen

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Components E racing burst upon the motorsports scene again in 2015, aimed toward testing the bounds of battery-electric autos. Now the founding father of the FIA-approved collection, Alejandro Agag, is giving gasoline cells a chance to indicate off. His newest undertaking, the hydrogen gasoline cell-only racing collection Excessive H, is on monitor for a 2025 launch hitting Saudi Arabia, the UK, Germany, and Italy earlier than winding up within the US.

The place Are The Gasoline Cells?

These of you following Agag’s ventures in all-electric motorsports won’t be shocked to see gasoline cells make their strategy to the entrance. All the time trying to push the boundaries of power storage, Agag was not delay by the comparatively brief vary of EV batteries when he launched the primary Components E racing collection in 2015. As a substitute of stopping for a recharge, every racing crew fielded two similar vehicles — together with similar tires — and swapped them out as wanted.

“If you’re wondering about battery range, the thinkers and doers behind Formula E wanted to make the races long enough to be interesting, which complicates things in terms of refueling,” I famous in a preview of the inaugural 2015 season. “For the first season, rather than slowing things down to a crawl by stopping for a recharge, the Formula E teams are switching entire cars.”

Merely swapping out the battery was another choice, however the state of battery swapping know-how was not racing-ready again in 2013, when Agag first announced his vision for Formula E (the know-how has improved since then — see extra EV battery swapping background here).

Right here Are The Gasoline Cells

Agag already had gasoline cells on his thoughts again in 2014, when he made an look on the Bloomberg New Power Finance Summit in New York Metropolis.

“Energy storage was front and center in Agag’s discussion,” I reported for CleanTechnica from the BNEF Summit. “While much of the Formula E technology has counterparts in Formula 1, the Formula E battery is still not ready for prime time in terms of capacity.”

“The name of the game is still the battery, or maybe fuel cells, or supercapacitors. We are waiting for that breakthrough in storage,” Agag emphasised.

Agag gave gasoline cells a trial run within the Excessive E collection. The followup to Components E, Excessive E showcases the off-road efficiency of battery-electric SUVs. That features discovering someplace off-grid to recharge. To get that accomplished, Excessive E deploys a transportable off-grid charging station powered by hydrogen gasoline cells, with the hydrogen sourced onsite by solar-powered electrolysis systems.

That’s not fairly the identical as utilizing gasoline cells to run an electrical racing automotive round a monitor. Nonetheless, the charging station demonstration fulfilled a key aim, with Excessive E noting that it showcases “the vast potential for today’s newest clean power technologies to displace polluting diesel generators that are responsible for a large proportion of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.”

And, Right here Is The Pioneer 25 Gasoline Cell EV

As described by the Excessive E crew, gasoline cells will greater than make up for misplaced time when the Excessive H collection kicks off subsequent yr.

Excessive E unveiled the new Extreme H racing car final summer time beneath the identify of Pioneer 25. Every crew will area an virtually similar model of the Pioneer 25, with just some areas open for variation.

“One open area for teams is the ability to redesign front and rear bodywork and lights in order to replicate the look of everyday car models,” Excessive E defined.

That reference to “everyday car models” could appear considerably lower than thrilling by way of motorsports. Nonetheless, it evokes the off-the-shelf attraction of the US group NASCAR (Nationwide Affiliation of Inventory Automobile Auto Racing), and it reaffirms Agag’s dedication to exposing the car-buying public to up-and-coming automobile electrification know-how.

Spark Racing Expertise is credited with engineering the brand new automotive, that includes a hydrogen Symbio gasoline cell. “The Pioneer 25’s peak 400kW (550hp) output is capable of firing the 2200 kilogram, 2.4 metre-wide race car from 0-100kph in 4.5 seconds and scale gradients of up to 130 percent,” Excessive E explains.

As is frequent within the gasoline cell EV area, Pioneer 25 sports activities a battery pack along with the gasoline cell. “The hydrogen fuel cell powers the battery pack that is produced and supported trackside by Fortescue ZERO,” Excessive E notes.

As for why not simply use gasoline cells, that’s a great query. The US Division of Power lists numerous the explanation why batteries play a job in gasoline cell EVs, equivalent to recapturing energy from brakingoffering further energy throughout brief acceleration occasions, “smoothing out” energy from gasoline cells, and offering the choice to show the gasoline cell off when the chance presents itself. Truck makers and different automotive stakeholders are additionally starting to discover the potential for gasoline cells to behave as range extenders for battery EVs.

The place’s That Gasoline Cell Automobile Of The Future?

Regardless of the shoutout to on a regular basis vehicles, Excessive H shouldn’t be targeted on kickstarting the mass marketplace for street-legal gasoline cell vehicles, at the least not but. At the moment, heavy-duty vans, building autos, and related functions are thought-about the low hanging fruit for gasoline cells attributable to their bigger energy necessities.

The hydrogen provide chain will even wants a makeover. Inexperienced hydrogen from water electrolysis is dear, which isn’t a problem for area of interest functions like motorsports. The mass market is a special story altogether. At the moment, the first supply of cheap hydrogen on the worldwide market is pure fuel, with coal taking part in a secondary half. The inexperienced hydrogen trade must scale up and convey prices down so as to compete.

For essentially the most half, Excessive H goals to carve out a distinct segment for zero emission gasoline cells because the motorsports area begins transitioning right into a low-carbon mannequin. “The Pioneer 25 racing car … is designed to demonstrate the viability and performance capabilities of hydrogen fuel cells, setting a new standard for eco-friendly motorsport,” Excessive E explains.

“It’s important for every motorsport series to have a unique selling point and hydrogen is very significant,” Agag emphasizes, although he additionally notes that the advantages might ripple past motorsports.

“Our evolution to Extreme H makes us the first-ever testbed of hydrogen technology in motorsport — not only in our racing cars, but also transportation, infrastructure, refuelling processes and safety regulations,” he provides for good measure.

That ripple impact is already evident in numerous hydrogen hub projects taking form right here within the US and world wide. That features the Kingdom of Monaco, which hosted a publicity occasion that includes the Pioneer 25 earlier this week. The occasion was timed to coincide with an annual assembly of the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance, which is on a mission to leverage the tiny nation’s excessive profile in assist of the worldwide green hydrogen industry.

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Photograph (cropped): Gasoline cells present the ability for the brand new Pioneer 25 Extreme H race carfeatured in a publicity occasion in Monaco earlier this week (courtesy of Excessive E).