Bright future: Aurora Media Worldwide on the new hydrogen-powered era of Extreme H 2025 By Heather McLean
Friday, October 4, 2024 - 09:46
Print This Story
Extreme E's days are truly numbered, as it is about to be replaced in 2025 by Extreme H, which will take the series forwards into the new era of hydrogen-powered racing
Extreme E has set the pace over recent years as the crazy electric rally series with major sustainability goals. However, Extreme E's days are truly numbered, as it is about to be replaced in 2025 by Extreme H, which will take the series forwards into the new era of hydrogen-powered racing.
At the Hydro X Prix in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland on 13 to 14 July, tests on the series' hydrogen race car, the Pioneer 25, were carried out publicly on a championship course for the first time.
This is going to be the only gas hydrogen sport out there for the foreseeable future. I think there's a two or three year or even four year monopoly [for Extreme H] while other people eventually or continue to go racing with liquid hydrogen
The Pioneer 25 car is designed to demonstrate the viability and performance capabilities of hydrogen fuel cells, setting a new standard for eco-friendly motorsport. It is designed and manufactured by Spark Racing Technology and equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell from Symbio, Extreme H's Official Fuel Cell Provider, and has undergone an intensive testing programme equivalent to three seasons of racing in readiness for its debut campaign. Symbio will provide a 75kW hydrogen fuel cell replacing the battery as the principal energy source. The hydrogen fuel cell powers the battery pack that is produced and supported trackside by Fortescue Zero.
The cunning plan is that Extreme H will take over from Extreme E. Explains Matthew Beal, director of broadcast at host broadcaster Aurora Media Worldwide: The roadmap is we finish season four of Extreme E, and that marks the end of the Extreme E era. Then the whole thing pivots to Extreme H with teams from Extreme E coming and going mostly coming! I think we'll see expansion in the grid.
Bright future
In March this year Extreme E revealed that it delivered significant audience growth in 2023, rising to a global audience of more than 144 million viewers, according to the latest analytics report on the series by YouGov. The increase in the series' audience figures stems from a thrilling third season, where a record five teams competed for the 2023 Extreme E championship at the final event. The series' global audience grew by 6% from 2022, where the viewership stood at 135 million.
Read more: Into the great unknown: Extreme H sliding smoothly into more data and telemetry in broadcast for the new era of hydrogen racing
Going forwards, Beal says, we had basically around a hundred million viewers the first season and last season, 150 million viewers across the broadcast, so a 50% increase over three years. The goal is to go 50% again over a shorter timeframe .
He adds: That's a big ambitious step to go again, but I think it's one everyone's confident in because we think we've got a great product, we think we've got authenticity and now equity in the market, particularly around the gender equality. And I think the market is moving to a position where the demand for female-led sports is huge, and only going in one direction.
So if we put those things together, we think we've got a really bright future and want to go again. The name of the game as ever in the competitive market is entertainment, and sports great for that, but we've got to work really hard to make sure our entertainment proposition is more compelling than the next, and we think we've got some great assets to do that; seriously brilliant racing, brilliant athletes, great locations, and a great story to partner, the whole thing. Extreme H is ambitious in their viewership and what they're aiming for, but I think they've got everything at their disposal to achieve it.
Hydrogen is the key for much of what will be seen on screen in 2025 for Extreme H, as this power is set to have a far greater reach into everyday life
Technology storytelling
Building that viewership further is hydrogen itself. Hydrogen is the key for much of what will be seen on screen in 2025 for Extreme H, as this power is set to have a far greater reach into everyday life. In the UK, new blast furnaces in the works cannot be powered by electricity off the grid as there is not enough to spare, and with oil and nuclear power unlikely contenders, hydrogen is set to step up to the mark. Therefore the work being carried out and demonstrated on the track at Extreme H will showcase the power source, and will attract the attention and imagination of a much wider base of viewers than simply sports fans.
Notes Beal: The technology story is going to get bigger inside Extreme H. All these things [we see off the track] will play into the broadcast and the graphics and the data, and storytelling.
As to the power, these vehicles will not be any old hydrogen-powered cars. They will be gas hydrogen-powered cars. States Beal: This is going to be the only gas hydrogen sport out there for the foreseeable future. I think there's a two or three year or even four year monopoly [for Extreme H] while other people eventually or continue to go racing with liquid hydrogen.
The reason that's super important is it's probably gas hydrogen where we're going to see as a [mainstream] mobility solution, so if you go and purchase a [hydrogen-powered] car, it'll be a gas model. Therefore the relevance of Extreme H to the consumer and to OEMs and manufacturers is quite high, because it's the next turn of the mobility solution and it's realistically where I think there's a lot of m
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
Bright future: Aurora Media Worldwide on the new hydrogen-powered era of Extreme H 2025 By Heather McLean 
