Mission H24 Conference: what future for hydrogen in motor sport?

Partners to launch a new category of electric hydrogen vehicles at Le Mans 24-Hour race

Automobile Club de l’Ouest has been working hand in hand with Green GT on MissionH24 since 2018. Many partners have joined the programme, including: TotalEnergies, Michelin, Symbio, Plastic Omnium, Dietsmann, Richard Mille and Essilor. The MissionH24 programme has already seen two hydrogen electric vehicle prototypes enter the Michelin Le Mans Cup: the LMPH2G in free practice, and the H24 in the race. In 2022, the latter raced and finished at Imola, the Road to Le Mans and Portimao.

Automobile Club de l’Ouest has always relied on the Le Mans 24 Hours as a technological laboratory for mobility. The famous endurance race has led to many advances, proven in this extraordinary competition and then transferred to mass produced cars. Creating a specific hydrogen electric vehicle class at the Le Mans 24 Hours would be an important step towards a zero-emission competition.

High-level round table for ESTACA students from the three campuses

Bernard Niclot, head of innovation at MissionH24 and head of hydrogen at the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, presented the challenges involved in this programme to students. Christophe Vacquier and Jean-Baptiste Ballif of Symbio presented the fuel cell, an essential component in the prototype. Carole Capitaine, Head of Communications for the MissionH24 programme, presented the programme’s goals. The speakers also presented various jobs around these new technologies developing in motor sport and in mass produced vehicles.

The conference attracted a lot of interest from students from the three campuses who attended the conference on site in Saint Quentin en Yvelines and followed remotely from Bordeaux and Laval. Excited about the idea of jobs in recent technologies and that will contribute to energy transition in the transport sector, students are increasingly eager to learn about future projects.

Hydrogen, innovative technology that EFT may use in its next vehicle

The EFT association organised this conference because it plans to build its next race car for the 2024 Formula Student with an electric engine and possibly a fuel cell.