New race car & race calendar for season 1: Extreme H officially launched in London

It has been clear since September 2023 that the Extreme E will be discontinued at the end of the fourth season in November. Now its successor - the Extreme H - has been officially launched. At yesterday's event in London, both the new "Pioneer 25" race car and the first race calendar for the hydrogen series were unveiled.

The official launch event took place in front of selected journalists and guests on the floating paddock of the Extreme E, the St. Helena, which is currently making a guest appearance on the River Thames in the centre of London. The most important part of the programme was undoubtedly the unveiling of the new vehicle, which has been under development since the announcement of the Extreme H in February 2022. The result is the "Pioneer 25", specially developed and built by Spark Racing Technologies, which also produced the previous Extreme E vehicles. According to the series, it has undergone an extensive test programme equal to three seasons of use.

Optically, the Pioneer 25 looks very similar to its little brother - the Odyssey 21 - and is roughly the same size. However, the front of the vehicle presented looks a little beefier and gives more insight into the suspension and wheels. However, just like the rear, it can be customised by the teams. Inside, it is equipped with a 75 kW fuel cell from Symbio, which permanently supplies a battery with electrical power. This serves as a buffer, absorbs peaks and enables recuperation. With a capacity of 36 kWh, it is slightly smaller than that of the Odyssey 21 (50 kWh).

With the output of the battery and the fuel cell, the Pioneer 25 achieves the same peak power as its predecessor, namely 400 kW. This is split up evenly between the front and rear engines. However, the vehicle should be significantly faster on average due to the higher torque. The Pioneer 25 accelerates to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds. The water tank holds 50 litres. The new racing car will undergo its first public test at the Hydro X Prix in Scotland.

"We have made no compromises with the Pioneer 25," says Mark Grain, Technical Director of Extreme E. "We have learnt a lot from the ODYSSEY 21, which we have adopted, but it is a completely new chassis and a racing car specially developed for the hydrogen fuel cell. We wanted the races to be more intense and the race cars to be faster.</p

"We've shown in Extreme E that electric cars can cope with very harsh environments and racing in tough conditions, so the move to Extreme H is a natural progression. We want to show the world that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be exciting, robust and resilient. We want to continue this development with the Pioneer 25."

With German race: Race calendar for season 1 presented

In addition to the vehicle, Extreme H has also unveiled its race calendar for the first season. This is set to include a total of five stops - Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and the USA. It would be the first race in Germany for the series. According to the press release, the exact dates and locations will be published later this year. However, coordinates for the venues are already available on the Extreme H website.

If these are correct, the season opener would be a good hour outside Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, followed by a race in Carmichael in northern England. A place that is only 60 kilometres south of the Scottish capital Edinburgh. The German debut of the racing series would therefore take place in Abtsbessingen in Thuringia. Extreme H will then return to Sardinia, but not to Capo Teulada, but inland. The season finale is probably planned for Sedan City in the south of the state of Kansas.