How F1 is aiming to create its ‘game-changer’ sustainable fuel
The next generation of power unit is set to be powered by a laboratory-created “100% sustainable” feel that F1 claims will match the current level of performance while producing fewer emissions and cutting its greenhouse 💖gas emissio꧑ns by “at least 65%”.
A first step towards its net zero carbon goal will be made in 2022 when F1 moves to a E10 fuel, a combination of 90% fossil fuel and 10% ethanol. That will mark a drop of five percent in its usage of f🍎ossil fuels compared to the current figure of 95%.
The sport will then focu❀s on making the switch to an all-new renewable fuel for the next generation of engines, which are scheduled for introduction in 2026.
F1 says the ‘drop-in fuel’ replacement can be used in a standard internal combustion engine “without any modification to t🐬he engine itself”.
Unlike the road-car market, F1 is leaning away from electrification and towards syntheti🍷c fuels because it is not possible to match the levels of F1 car performance using electricity at this stage.
Introducing the fuel of the future
— F1 Media (@F1Media)
100% sustainable
Same power
And useable by vehicles across the world
Synthetic e-f🐟uels are manufactured using an industrial process that captures CO2 from the atmosphere and combines it with low-carbon hydrogen toꦍ make fuel. The hydrogen is obtained from sustainable electricity sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power.
F1 isﷺ close to an agreement on a new eng𒁃ine design that may tempt the Volkswagen Group’s brands - most likely Audi or Porsche - to join the grid in 2026.
Porsche has already broken ground on a new CO2-neutral fuel plant 💜in Chile with the aim of producing around 💖130,000 litres of e-fuels in 2022. That will be expanded in two phases to around 55 million litres by 2024, and to 550 million litres by 2026.
F1 says it🍸 is “actively engaged in discussions” with fuel companies about the exact quantities the world championsh🧸ip will need, as well as how it can be mass-produced for wider use in society.
Costs and scaling up production remain the biggest hurdles surroundౠing e-fuels. The UK alone currently consumes 46.5 billion ꦕlitres of petrol and diesel each year, a figure that dwarfs Porsche’s projected targets.
Earlier this year, F1’s managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn told the BBC that hydrogen❀-powered cars could be the future of F1 beyond 2030.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around th🔥e world. Often reporting on the action fro✨m the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
