The final round of Extreme E Season 3 is fast approaching, after another action-packed season of carbon neutral racing and driver gender equality. But the race series has also provided a demonstration of how a travelling event can be powered sustainably. Energy infrastructure partner Power Logistics has used the Extreme E series as a giant experiment in pushing the boundaries for off-grid zero emissions generation that can be delivered reliably worldwide.
“For season one race one, we started off with an APC hydrogen fuel cell,” says Craig Hardeman, Project Manager at Power Logistics. “Backup generators then powered the ancillary stuff. Nobody had benchmarks for sustainability at that point, so we were starting a journey. We’ve developed power monitoring for everything, so we can see what every generator and the fuel cell are doing live. We can see what each team’s charging of their electric racing SUV is doing live, as well as their utilities, catering, production, and broadcast. With the data we gathered over the last two years, we could plan to get the entire series on just green generation.”
Extreme E’s main power consumption is charging its electric racing SUVs.
Veloce
For the last few races, this has resulted in a combination of a methanol-powered fuel cell, with solar as a supplement and battery storage to smooth things out. “The fuel cell is from Kaizen and ENOWA, the battery storage is provided by Zenobe and then our solar system feeds into that,” says Hardeman. “We also have remote nodes, which have their own solar, small batteries and a backup generator for emergencies. We are continuously monitoring our system to make it more efficient, and to prove what we’ve done is successful.”
“Our target was to generate at least 30% of the site’s power with hydrogen this season, and we’ll more than exceed that,” says Andy Welch, Extreme E’s Utilities Manager. “This year our aim was to learn about the system. The hydrogen logistics with methanol is a massive improvement. We move the hydrogen around as a liquid fuel rather than a gas. Gaseous hydrogen is problematic and expensive. With methanol we’re looking at a fuel that costs less than diesel.”
Previously, Extreme E used HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) generators, which consume biofuel that has a low carbon footprint, but not as low as the Kaizen system, and produces other emissions. The addition of batteries has negated the need for emergency generators. The Zenobe system, which uses second life packs taken after their use is over in applications such as electric buses, has just under 1MWh of storage available and fits into three standard shipping containers. “These are the same batteries Zenobe provides for grid support,” says Welch. “Second life batteries can be used for another five to seven years as grid backup after their transport application.”
Kaizen Clean Energy fits a methanol reformer and hydrogen fuel cell into a single container.
Extreme E
“In the main paddock we saw real value in batteries because there were quite a few times where the generators were running around 20% load which is really inefficient,” says Hardeman. “The batteries are now the heart of the system. The fuel cell and the solar panels feed into that storage as long as needed. There are points where the load is greater than the fuel cell and the solar can provide but that’s why we’ve got so much of a buffer because when we’re not charging the cars, there’s excess energy to recharge the battery.”
“In previous races we’ve seen a peak usage of around 350kW, but in the first Sardinia race this season we were seeing 450kW,” says Hardeman. “We had to adapt quickly. Power Logistics manages the entire micro grid. If there’s a fault, everything needs to be shut down in a controlled manner, but we must still guarantee power to the critical systems like broadcast and racing event control. The system has been designed to do that. If we had a total system failure, the broadcast would still go out and they could still race.”
The Extreme E system is fundamentally a DC grid, although AC power must be delivered for general outlets around the site. The demand for power has also been growing continually. Extreme E’s first race of season one consumed just 9MWh, but now the total is around 24MWh. The biggest contributor is unsurprisingly the charging of the electric Odyssey 21 racing SUVs. The switch to a double header format for each weekend was a major reason for the increase in consumption. Catering is the next most power hungry, then cooling and heating.
“We’re evaluating the new system over the last race and the final race,” says Hardeman. “There are still tweaks to do. Next year we’re looking to double the battery capacity, without doubling the number of containers, by using new cell types. That way we can put more power from the fuel cell and the solar into the system to make it more efficient. We’re also talking of increasing the fuel cell output. That could be via a secondary fuel cell. As the event grows, we’re going to need more energy. We want as much green energy as possible going into the network.”
The solar array at an Extreme E race can deliver up to 45kW of power.
James Moris
This is also going to be important with the advent of Extreme H, the hydrogen-powered racing series planned for 2025. Although the hydrogen for the cars can be generated on site from Kaizen’s methanol reformer, it will need to be compressed to 700 atmospheres and refrigerated for delivery to the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tanks. This will require additional power.
Extreme E’s technology could also provide a great model for developing countries with unreliable grids. “This is a great testbed for these emerging new technologies,” says Hardeman. “This has not been done before anywhere. If we can prove around the world that it can work, there’s no reason it can’t go to other countries that may not have a lack of energy, but can’t manage it properly, which is where our expertise lies. With batteries it’s very easy to get a grid back up after a blackout. Within a matter of minutes we can get back online. If the grid disappears, the battery provides power regardless. We have ten hours of runtime.”
Power Logistics is already feeding what it has learned from Extreme E into other projects. “We’re doing a couple of big events in the UK, where we’ve cut their fuel consumption by up to 72%. We’re also putting our learning into more commercial applications – construction projects and telecoms. We’re starting to go out into the wider world with this technology, now we’ve gained the confidence with it.” Motor racing has always been a place where vehicle technology can be pioneered. With Extreme E, new methods of power delivery are at the vanguard too.
The grand finale of Extreme E Season 3 takes place in Antofagasta, Chile on 2nd and 3rd December.