Professional motorsports are getting the green light.
First, there was the Formula E (all-electric) series which started in 2014, and now is a FIA World Championship series, making it the first single-seater racing series outside of Formula One to be given world championship status.
Now the clean energy movement has reached the pinnacle of motorsports – F1.
Formula 1 recently announced that they are working on developing a new fuel for its next-generation engines intended to produce the same high-end performance while emitting net zero carbon dioxide.
In 2022 F1 will be using a blended fuel, 90% Fossil fuel, and 10% Ethanol.
This is just the first step in the longer race towards their stated 2030 NetZero goals.
The next major step will begin in 2025 when F1 announced that will begin using 100% “sustainable fuels” for their next-gen engines.
Formula 1 is working with fuel companies to creating the fuel in the quantities needed for the motorsport circuit. Then they plan on scaling up production for wider social use.
The fuel will be lab-created and using components from municipal waste, carbon capture schemes, or non-food biomass. The fuel will be 100% ‘drop in’ meaning that it can still power standard Internal Combustion Engines (ICE).
F1 believes that this 100% sustainable fuel will be available to use in the millions of internal-combustion vehicles still on the roads until the Electric Vehicle market beings to takeover.
This is good news as the full transition to Electric Vehicles will take decades to complete. According to IEA, Electric Vehicles sales are expected to account for 40% of total passenger car sales by 2030, but this will only equate to 13% of the global car fleet.
This new sustainable fuel could be the perfect transitionary fuel source.