FIA Extreme H launches hydrogen-powered World Cup in Saudi Arabia

The competition will take place until October 11 in Qiddiya City, Riyadh, and will see 16 drivers compete in off-road fuel cell-powered vehicles across eight teams.

Every team must field one male and one female driver in time trials, head-to-head duels, and multi-car battles, finishing in an eight-car final.

Extreme H, formally Extreme E, signed an agreement with the FIA last year to transition the championship into a World Cup format over one weekend. Extreme E ended its 2024 race calendar early as it focused its attention on the 2025 hydrogen-fuelled season.

Hoped to underline motorsport’s “vital role” as a “testbed” for clean energy solutions, the FIA previously said it is confident the sport will “inspire further investment in hydrogen infrastructure.”

Drivers will use the hydrogen fuel cell Pioneer 25 race car, which was unveiled in June 2024.

The vehicle offers 2kg of hydrogen storage at 700 bar and a 75kW Symbio fuel cell. Furthermore, the vehicle’s peak 400kW output can see it reach 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds.

Last September, the Pioneer 25 passed mandatory FIA crash tests, too.

Hydrogen driving motorsports towards sustainability

Worth $5.11bn in 2022 and projected to reach a valuation of $7.47bn by 2028, the motorsports industry is in race to reduce its emissions and secure its future – with hydrogen’s role increasingly edging to the forefront of plans.

The pinnacle of motorsports, Formula 1 (F1), amassed an average viewership of 1.11 million per race in the 2023 season, whilst the viewing figures for the first 12 races of the 2023 season in MotoGP saw a 20% audience increase from 2022, proving the scale of the motorsports market.

In 2019, F1 launched its Net Zero Carbon by 2030 initiative, after an extensive report into the championship’s environmental impact found it was responsible for generating 256,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during the 2019 season.

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