On October 9 and 10, the FIA’s Extreme H off-road race took place in Saudi Arabia for the first time. CEO Ali Russell and Rob Atkinson from Siemens spoke with H2international about how such races can accelerate developments in the automotive industry.
H2international: Driving with hydrogen already requires a range of specific safety measures even for standard buses and trucks, and many people still feel uneasy. How do you handle such an explosive gas in racing?
Ali Russell: When people hear hydrogen, they think of explosion. During our races you can see that you can have crashes and there are no mishaps, no explosions. The technology works and is safe. People have been racing with combustible fuels for generations and explosions are simply not a big topic.
Of course the sport itself is incredibly dangerous, so we need to make it as safe as possible. That is why safety aspects like seat belts and side mirrors originated in racing.
Hydrogen is an industry in its infancy. We show that it works from a performance point of view. If it can work in the Atacama desert and in the Arctic, it can work anywhere. We also see ourselves as a platform to help businesses like Siemens, Hyundai, Stellantis and General Motors to move forward.
At the Extreme E in Saudi Arabia in February 2024, the solar system supplied part of the energy for the event.
How do the Extreme E and Extreme H races differ from Formula 1?
Ali Russell: The Extreme H format is an off-road race like the Extreme E. It is very different from Formula 1. We want to connect to younger people. It is way more dynamic. It is a multi-car race and also a rally against the clock, incredibly easy to understand. We have 50 / 50 men and women driving.
We have had 13 years of Formula E and the Extreme E race has now turned into Extreme H. There are a lot of similarities between those two. When we started Formula E, no one believed in it, people distrusted the technology. They feared they would be electrocuted or there would be battery fires. It probably was the same when horse carriages were replaced by cars.
We use the same electric vehicles like in Formula E. Instead of the battery we now have a fuel cell on board. In the future hydrogen combustion engines might participate in the same competition.
There are three different races. The first one is a rally against the clock, from one point in the sand to another and back, then you switch drivers and repeat. The second race is a 1:1 knock**-**out competition. The third round is a multi-car race, everyone starts at the same time and whoever crosses the line first wins.
Rob Atkinson: It is a very watchable form of racing, much more interesting than the long Formula 1 races, only about 20 minutes per race. There is a lot more action and also information in the format.
Russell: There are eight teams with eight cars and sixteen drivers, one male and one female driver in each team, like in the Wimbledon mixed doubles. This is unusual in racing, normally there are 97 % male drivers. The time gap between the best male drivers is about two tenths of a second. When we started the mixed teams four years ago, the time gap between men and women was about four seconds. This has gone down to one second. So we proved that if the women have access to the same tools and same coaching and you put them in the same team so the members can help each other to become faster**,** there is real progress. This is a really positive by-product of our racing and we want to work together and share these results.
The trail follows the ridge of the Tuwaiq Mountains in the Saudi Arabian desert.
“When we started Formula E, you had to switch cars because the battery did not last”
When we started Formula E, you could not drive really fast, you could not even finish the race with the same car, you had to switch cars because the battery did not last. Within three seasons we increased the energy density and efficiency went up from about 30 to 35 percent to 98 to 99 percent. We worked on the battery management and through its testing and development in Formula E, Jaguar has been able to optimize energy usage and improve battery performance in its own vehicles, leading to a 20% range increase in its I-PACE model.
Siemens is one of the companies that has big bets in the hydrogen economy.
Bottom: Eight mixed teams of 16 drivers competed in the first Extreme H motorsport event.
Atkinson: We did a lot of design work on fuel cells and the cars for Extreme H and now work with the OEMs on their fuel cells. We want to be an enabler for the hydrogen industry. We do not sell the destination; we sell the journey.
This is why we hosted the organizational meeting for the Extreme H in June here in Amberg. And it really brought us to a next level of understanding. We do not have all the answers yet, but everybody at the event knew the challenges very well and was super committed. So we got a completely different view on the whole matter. This is why one year of racing equals ten years of R&D. Racing also brings forward stationary systems. A so**-**called Hydrogen Power Unit by Geopura provides 80 % of the site power for the event and the system has evolved. Geopura started with one hydrogen system per year, now they make more than 40, mostly used for broadcasting in rural areas without electricity grids. Their approach to the market is really innovative. They do not sell the power units but provide electricity as a service. So there is less risk for the customer. Siemens is helping in scaling up. We delivered the automation to control the power units and help make everything more cost effective.
Russell: We can be a communication platform. There is not only F1, but also NASCAR and IndyCar races. There are famous drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Jimmie Johnson and Michael Andretti. Together we can reach a billion people.
We think mobility can evolve to be more sustainable. We do not need to go back to horse carts and sailing boats. If we work together we can grow much quicker.
So far, from a consumer perspective, sustainability is not attractive enough. Motor racing can make sustainability much more attractive.
Pressurized hydrogen is transported to the venue by trailer trucks.
About Ali Russell, Extreme H, FIA and Siemens
Sports manager Ali Russell is Managing Director of both Extreme E and Extreme H. During the first two seasons, he worked as Chief Marketing Officer for the event.
Extreme E is an electric SUV off-road racing series. The event also addresses the issue of climate change and climate protection, as well as other sustainability topics – for example, through gender-balanced teams consisting of one man and one woman. The races have taken place in remote locations, including the Arctic, the Atlantic coast of Senegal, the deserts of Saudi Arabia, and a former coal mine in Scotland. The format also includes information on climate protection, reaching an audience that is usually not closely engaged with this topic. In fall 2025, Extreme E will become Extreme H. The race format will remain the same, but instead of battery-electric drives, fuel cell electric drives will be used. The first race will take place in Saudi Arabia.
The formats Extreme E and Extreme H are backed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the international motorsport governing body that also holds the naming rights and sets the rules for Formula 1, among others. Siemens hosted a preparatory meeting for the first Extreme H race in June 2025.
Ali Russel and Rob Atkinson at the preparatory meeting at Siemens in Amberg in June 2025.
Sustainability in motorsport: when the race cars arrive by train
Extreme E was an off-road racing series featuring electric SUVs. The event also addressed climate change and climate protection, as well as other topics from the UN Sustainable Development Goals – for example, through gender-balanced teams consisting of one man and one woman. The broadcast format includes information on climate protection. In Extreme H, the race format remains the same, but instead of battery-electric drives, fuel cell drives are used. The off-road races take place in remote locations, which so far have included the Arctic, the Atlantic coast of Senegal, the deserts of Saudi Arabia, and a former coal mine in Scotland. The first race of Extreme H will take place in Saudi Arabia.
In both Extreme E and Extreme H, the FIA is also working to reduce the event’s emissions. During the race itself, the cars account for a negligible share of emissions – well below one percent in the most recent Extreme E season in 2024. The largest share of emissions (91 percent) is caused by transporting materials, followed by team travel (just over 5 percent). On-site operations account for around 3 percent.
Initially, emissions were mainly reduced by using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as fuel for the generator, but over the years, the share of hydrogen has increased. The FIA covers this share with a fuel cell system from Enowa. A water-methanol mixture is used as fuel. The electricity from the fuel cells is stored in a second-life battery system from Zenobe and distributed on site via a microgrid. In addition, solar power is generated locally. In the fourth season of Extreme E in 2024, just over half of the energy came from hydrogen, 10 percent from solar power, and the rest from HVO. In this year’s Extreme H, HVO is intended to serve only as a backup.
To address the CO2-intensive transport of race cars and equipment, the organizers are experimenting. At some events, a specially converted ship, the RMS St Helena, was used. However, it has since been sold. For the Hydro X Prix in July 2024, the 70 freight containers with 21 race cars and other equipment were transported by train from Portland in southern England to Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
The environmental organization BUND criticized Extreme E as greenwashing – primarily because it allegedly damages sensitive landscapes. The organizer responded by pointing to comprehensive environmental assessments.
