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Can Formula 1 be the real answer?

Formula 1 and global partner ARAMCO are targeting an introduction of 100% sustainable fuels by the middle of this decade, as part of the move towards being Net Zero Carbon by 2030. It’s an ambitious target, but one which could have a huge impact on both the sport and the larger world of transportation. So, with the help of F1’s Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds, let’s discover the challenges of creating a 100% sustainable fuel, why F1 thinks there’s still plenty more life in the internal combustion engine yet, and how exactly these fuels will be made.

Yes, it sounds good to say that F1 cars will run on 100% sustainable fuels – but what exactly do we mean when we say that?

F1’s sustainable fuels will feature an advanced component that comes from either a carbon capture scheme, municipal waste or non-food ‘biomass’ – and, most importantly of all, which will achieve greenhouse gas emissions savings relative to fossil-derived petrol of at least 65%. These fuels will initially be created on a small scale in a pilot plant to develop the methods that will then be suitable for mass production.

The type of ‘biomass’ you could use would include things like algae, agricultural waste and non-food crops grown on land that’s unsuitable for food production.

Symonds, meanwhile, is excited about the promise of carbon capture, even if the technology is still at an early stage.

“Carbon capture is a method that actually we’re quite keen on,” he says, “because it takes the carbon directly out of the air. It’s in its infancy, but there are plants doing it; there’s some in Canada, there’s one in Switzerland that’s quite large, there’s some in South America that are quite large. So it is doable, and I think in 20 years’ time, actually there’ll be quite a lot of it around. But it is very, very experimental.”

Why not focus on electric instead?

It won’t have escaped your attention that there’s currently a big push worldwide towards the electrification of cars, with a number of governments set to outlaw the sale of new, purely internal combustion engine-powered cars in the coming years. So why are Formula 1 pressing ahead with plans that would keep the ICE at the heart of the sport’s power unit?

“What’s really important is that we’re not anti-electric vehicle,” says Symonds when the question is put to him. “In my case, far from it; I actually think that for light vehicles in an urban environment, electric vehicles are quite good. They have some problems… but we’re absolutely not anti-electric. And I think all engineers feel that electric vehicles are good in a small-ish vehicle, and an urban environment.

“Where they’re not good is where you need a lot of power, and you need that power to not take up a lot of room. So when you get into the heavy goods vehicles, trains, aircraft, high-performance road cars – which may not be a terribly significant sector, but it’s still one that’s there – then it becomes important.”

Get the full article here https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.pat-symonds-on-how-formula-1-are-creating-the-next-generation-of-100.6XCGNQ3ExMhbhYy338Qgi2.html 

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