Pioneer25 passed the FIA's mandatory crash test, marking an important step in world motorsports. The car was developed specifically for ExtremeH, the world's first hydrogen-powered motorsport event, and can reach a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph).
A few functional hydrogen rally and racing prototypes have been built over the years, but none have yet been successfully homologated for competition. Therefore, the successful testing of ExtremeH is significant - especially considering that hydrogen is still relatively new and rare as a vehicle fuel, and that mixtures of hydrogen with parts of air are known to be explosive.
But it's worth noting that even if the tank is punctured and the hydrogen escapes, it's about 14 times lighter than air, so it tends to rush upward at about 20 meters per second (66 feet per second), so in practice it's less likely to cause an explosion than regular gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The FIA's crash test regulations center on side impact and rollover safety. After these crash tests, the Pioneer 25 will undergo more track tests.
Mark Grain, ExtremeH's technical director, said: "We shouldn't underestimate this. This is the first hydrogen race car to be homologated by the FIA. We worked with the FIA to determine these crash tests and there was a lot of collaboration and constructive dialogue back and forth to determine the loads and speeds and so on, but in the end, they determined these tests and the car we designed and built passed them."
Pioneer25 uses Symbio hydrogen fuel cell technology and the hydrogen tank has a capacity of 2kg at 700 bar pressure. The car uses a tubular space frame chassis with the driver's seat in the center, surrounded by FIA-mandated crash structures.
It has a maximum power of 550 horsepower (400 kilowatts), can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, and can handle grades of up to 130% (52.4 degrees). A low center of gravity and enhanced suspension geometry enhance the car's ride and handling characteristics.
"The chassis itself is stronger, but we added carbon fiber composite crash structures on the two hydrogen tanks, and in the side impact test, we added composite energy-absorbing structures on both sides. Hydrogen high and low pressure systems were also installed during the tests." He added: "The system was pressurized in both tests and the pressure within the system was monitored as real-time data. This is to ensure that the system does not become damaged and depressurized. I am happy to say that in each test, the high and low pressures remained unchanged, which shows that the hydrogen system was not damaged."
Spark Racing Technology provides an exclusive set of standardized components for each Pioneer 25 participating in the Extreme Group H competition. However, participating teams still have some leeway to modify the front and rear surrounds to imitate traditional IC racing cars.
ExtremeH is a hydrogen-based, zero-emissions version of the electric off-road racer ExtremeE. Scheduled to begin in 2025, ExtremeH will demonstrate state-of-the-art hydrogen engine technology in competitive competition, marking an ambitious step towards clean energy. ExtremeH is a one-car series, which means the car was not developed to seek an advantage over its rivals.
The Pioneer No. 25 car was originally scheduled to compete in two IslandXPrix events in Sardinia in September, but both races were postponed. The car will therefore return to France where it will complete most of the remaining testing work. In theory, this gives ExtremeH more time to complete development work on Pioneer25, but Grain insists that nothing has changed and work will continue on the exact same schedule.
"From a technical and racing perspective, the worst thing we can do is take our foot off the gas and lose the ability to race." Grain added: "If Alejandro (ExtremeH founder and CEO Agag) turns around and says: 'I want to race on January 1st,' we want to be able to say: 'Yes, we can do that."
The next important milestone for the Pioneer 25 is FIA suitability testing of its fuel tank and battery pack, ahead of more track testing later this month and subsequently in October. All cars participating in Extreme H will enter production in the coming weeks, with teams expected to receive delivery of their cars before the end of the year.