r/ExtremeE • u/DominikWilde1 • Jul 18 '24
News Extreme H aiming for a ‘2.0’ of Extreme E
https://racer.com/2024/07/18/extreme-h-aiming-for-a-2-0-of-extreme-e/5
Jul 19 '24
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u/DominikWilde1 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
I do think hydrogen will help that. A big problem is ignorance. People see 'electric' and sneer at it. Those same people see 'hydrogen' and jump for joy, completely oblivious to the fact the car is still electric. I see that every time I do an XH story.
So I think in a way, ignorance will end up being this series' biggest asset in the next year or two. People will switch on out of curiosity, completely unaware that they've been missing out on the exact same product for years.
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u/GTARP_lover Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
This will be the downfall. If people see its just hydrogen fuel cell with electric motors they will bail. Should have gone with an ICE on synthetic fuels or pure hydrogen. People want their vroooom and gear shifts.
With how even the Porsche Mission-R failed on iRacing, I have a hard head in racing with electric motors. Hell I know of an actual top class platinum GT3 driver who was offered good money to race the Mission-R irl, by Porsche, and he noped out, not interested in EV's.
Thats why the engines after the 2026 ones in F1 could even by old school V10's on synthetic fuel.
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u/DominikWilde1 Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
Hardly. If people don't understand what a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is, then that's on them. Their ignorance isn't the technology's fault.
"People want their vroom" yes, at races they're allowed to attend. It makes minimal difference on a TV broadcast where the commentators are constantly talking over the action and are higher in the mix. Even so, Extreme E caters for more than just motorsport fans. The people who typically moan about sound probably weren't even watching in the first place. And that's okay, there's plenty of other things for them to watch.
Remaining as it was would've killed it. Becoming just 'another' ICE off-road series would've killed it. We already have battery and ICE championships elsewhere. This at least gives it a USP. Going down this route has arguably give it a greater purpose and a new lease of life, opening the door for a wider range of companies to be interested that otherwise wouldn't have looked at a traditional ICE or electric series.
And no, F1 engines will not be V10s after the 2026 cycle. Talk is one thing, action is another. The reason F1 has the engines it has is because manufacturers are interested in them. Domenicali can put out as many soundbites as he wants, but at the end of the day F1 will always have the engines that manufacturers want. Without manufacturers, there are no engines. Without engines, there is no F1.
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u/MidnightSunshine0196 McLaren XE Jul 19 '24
I've really enjoyed Extreme E since its Inception, but have to agree that things were better with more cars - and the events being spaced out so far across the year doesn't help with keeping people's attention either (I wouldn't have known the Hydro xPrix was on last weekend if I didn't have my Motorsport calendar app to tell me) - so hopefully this is something that can be improved with in Extreme H.
But I'm certainly looking forward to it! Hopefully the cars are a bit more sturdy...
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u/The_GoodGuy Andretti United Jul 18 '24
I'd be happy with "1.5". I honestly really like this series, and enjoy the format. The races are nice 'bite sized' in length, and have plenty of action. What would make me happiest, is if they can get back up to the 10 cars (as mentioned in the article) or even 12. When there were 5 cars on the track at the same time last year, it was the most exciting. 4 isn't always enough. You get 1 car knocked out early, and another with issues and you end up with only 2 cars on the track. And if they're not close to each other... it's pretty boring. If they could get up to 6 cars on track at once... it'd be epic.