The top tiers of open-wheel Formula racing often serve as a test bed for future automotive technologies, and with electric vehicles becoming more and more mainstream, that statement is becoming increasingly true for Formula E. However, if a recent report is anything to go by, the all-electric racing series could potentially make a switch to hydrogen power for the Gen4 regulations, which would be quite the statement.
The report comes from Motorsport, who had the chance to speak with Formula E co-founder Alejandro Agag directly, and he seems pretty serious about the prospect of hydrogen power for the next generation of cars.
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“Hydrogen is within the license of Formula E with the FIA,” said Agag. “There are two ways to use hydrogen, one way is to burn the hydrogen, which is very inefficient, but some people are working on maybe making it more efficient.
“The other way, which is the one we would use, is a hydrogen fuel cell that basically produces electricity that then powers an electric motor. So as soon as those technologies start being widely available and operating in a racing level, we will definitely look into those.”
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This could make for quite an interesting shake-up to Formula E, as one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome with pure electric power, recharging the batteries, could effectively be eliminated with the near-instant refueling of hydrogen fuel cells. With all that being said, it’s also worth noting that Formula E is currently moving into the Gen3 regulations after just finishing up with the Gen2 cars, so this potential switch for the Gen4 regulations wouldn’t be here until about five years out.