Bright future: Aurora Media Worldwide on the new hydrogen-powered era of Extreme H 2025
Extreme E’s days are truly numbered, as it is about to be replaced in 2025 by Extreme H, which will take the series forwards into the new era of hydrogen-powered racing
Extreme E has set the pace over recent years as the crazy electric rally series with major sustainability goals. However, Extreme E’s days are truly numbered, as it is about to be replaced in 2025 by Extreme H, which will take the series forwards into the new era of hydrogen-powered racing.
At the Hydro X Prix in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland on 13 to 14 July, tests on the series’ hydrogen race car, the Pioneer 25, were carried out publicly on a championship course for the first time.
“This is going to be the only gas hydrogen sport out there for the foreseeable future. I think there’s a two or three year – or even four – year monopoly [for Extreme H] while other people eventually – or continue – to go racing with liquid hydrogen”
The Pioneer 25 car is designed to demonstrate the viability and performance capabilities of hydrogen fuel cells, setting a new standard for eco-friendly motorsport. It is designed and manufactured by Spark Racing Technology and equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell from Symbio, Extreme H’s Official Fuel Cell Provider, and has undergone an intensive testing programme equivalent to three seasons of racing in readiness for its debut campaign. Symbio will provide a 75kW hydrogen fuel cell replacing the battery as the principal energy source. The hydrogen fuel cell powers the battery pack that is produced and supported trackside by Fortescue Zero.
The cunning plan is that Extreme H will take over from Extreme E. Explains Matthew Beal, director of broadcast at host broadcaster Aurora Media Worldwide: “The roadmap is we finish season four of Extreme E, and that marks the end of the Extreme E era. Then the whole thing pivots to Extreme H with teams from Extreme E coming and going – mostly coming! – I think we’ll see expansion in the grid.”
Bright future
In March this year Extreme E revealed that it delivered significant audience growth in 2023, rising to a global audience of more than 144 million viewers, according to the latest analytics report on the series by YouGov. The increase in the series’ audience figures stems from a thrilling third season, where a record five teams competed for the 2023 Extreme E championship at the final event. The series’ global audience grew by 6% from 2022, where the viewership stood at 135 million.
Going forwards, Beal says, “we had basically around a hundred million viewers the first season and last season, 150 million viewers across the broadcast, so a 50% increase over three years. The goal is to go 50% again over a shorter timeframe”.
He adds: “That’s a big ambitious step to go again, but I think it’s one everyone’s confident in because we think we’ve got a great product, we think we’ve got authenticity and now equity in the market, particularly around the gender equality. And I think the market is moving to a position where the demand for female-led sports is huge, and only going in one direction.
“So if we put those things together, we think we’ve got a really bright future and want to go again. The name of the game as ever in the competitive market is entertainment, and sports great for that, but we’ve got to work really hard to make sure our entertainment proposition is more compelling than the next, and we think we’ve got some great assets to do that; seriously brilliant racing, brilliant athletes, great locations, and a great story to partner, the whole thing. Extreme H is ambitious in their viewership and what they’re aiming for, but I think they’ve got everything at their disposal to achieve it.”
Hydrogen is the key for much of what will be seen on screen in 2025 for Extreme H, as this power is set to have a far greater reach into everyday life
Technology storytelling
Building that viewership further is hydrogen itself. Hydrogen is the key for much of what will be seen on screen in 2025 for Extreme H, as this power is set to have a far greater reach into everyday life. In the UK, new blast furnaces in the works cannot be powered by electricity off the grid as there is not enough to spare, and with oil and nuclear power unlikely contenders, hydrogen is set to step up to the mark. Therefore the work being carried out and demonstrated on the track at Extreme H will showcase the power source, and will attract the attention and imagination of a much wider base of viewers than simply sports fans.
Notes Beal: “The technology story is going to get bigger inside Extreme H. All these things [we see off the track] will play into the broadcast and the graphics and the data, and storytelling.”
As to the power, these vehicles will not be any old hydrogen-powered cars. They will be gas hydrogen-powered cars. States Beal: “This is going to be the only gas hydrogen sport out there for the foreseeable future. I think there’s a two or three year – or even four – year monopoly [for Extreme H] while other people eventually – or continue – to go racing with liquid hydrogen.
“The reason that’s super important is it’s probably gas hydrogen where we’re going to see as a [mainstream] mobility solution, so if you go and purchase a [hydrogen-powered] car, it’ll be a gas model. Therefore the relevance of Extreme H to the consumer and to OEMs and manufacturers is quite high, because it’s the next turn of the mobility solution and it’s realistically where I think there’s a lot of money in the marketplace to go invest in [Extreme H] because it has the monopoly, whereas there’s quite a few electric championships kicking around.”
Hydrogen fuelling is likely to be present in multiple forms on the Extreme H circuit, notes Beal: “With hydrogen gas, the hydrogen charges the batteries, the batteries feed two motors, and off they go. The roadmap is if the market demands it to go to hydrogen combustion, which is like a combustion engine; exploding hydrogen makes the wheels go round. So we could see in a year’s time both solutions on track – batteries powered by hydrogen gas and hydrogen combustion engines – and Extreme H is really open to that. They’re working with the FIA and FOM as a triparty group.”
Additionally, hydrogen gas cars can be refuelled faster than battery cars, so Beal says the format next year for the series could see more rounds happening in the same day.
There will be a mix of locations for the new Extreme H season in 2025, from those ecological areas as seen previously in Extreme E, to those that can be made more fan-friendly
Fan-friendly locations
Beal says that there will be a mix of locations for the new season, from those ecological areas as seen previously in Extreme E, to those that can be made more fan-friendly. He explains further: “They’ll also look for more tracks to allow a bit more razzamatazz and showbiz, but mostly to have fan engagement. They want to get this blend between keeping the kind of super rugged, super remote locations, and then having one or two featured events where there is an element of fans there.”
In September Extreme E announced it is reworking the end of its Season 4 calendar as it continues its transition to Extreme H. The remaining rounds were scheduled to take place in Sardinia, Italy, and Phoenix, US. No updates on how the end of the Extreme E era will conclude are available as yet.
What will not be changing with Extreme H is its green credentials, from the science committee that validates all the environmental facts on screen, to the sustainability legacy programmes put in place in each location. Also, the gender equity structure where men and women race together on the same teams and against each other in head to heads on the track.
Adds Beal: “What we found is actually, over the turn of the last three years, we’ve all seen the massive rise of women’s sport, and I think Extreme E has been at the vanguard of that. It is still to my mind the only sport where you are seeing male versus female head to head; not in the mainstream and certainly not hitting 22 million viewers. So that’s been a massive win and I think that everyone wants to take that and move forward with it, and double down on it, so much so that they changed the rules this year to encourage the strategy of teams to encourage more head-to-head racing for male and female races.”