Ford returning to Formula One
Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook enters The Fox Garage to talk about the automaker's return to Formula One with Red Bull Racing.
The Aramco oil company is teaming up with automakers Renault and Geely to launch a new venture that will produce internal combustion engines that run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels and hydrogen.
The yet to be named venture is aiming to manufacture up to 5 million powertrains annually.
Synthetic fuels, known as e-fuels, work like gasoline but are created using carbon capture and water, so they are carbon-neutral when burned.
The German government this week said it would refuse to support the European Union's proposed 2035 ban on gas and diesel vehicles unless e-fuel and hydrogen are exempted.
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Aramco has started to develop a hydrogen fueling infrastructure. (Wang Haizhou/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Hydrogen can either be combusted in a piston engine, emitting only water vapor, or injected into a fuel cell that generates electricity by combining it with atmospheric oxygen with a catalyst.
"Aramco’s entry brings to the table unique know-how that will help develop breakthrough innovations in the fields of synthetic fuels and hydrogen," said Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group.
Aramco supplies the fuel for the Formula 2 racing series. (Joe Portlock - Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
Several automakers and oil producers are developing e-fuels, which can be distributed through current fueling infrastructure and allow vehicles to be filled up much more quickly than an electric car can be charged.
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Aramco, which is the world's most valuable company, last year began collaborating with Spain's Repsol on a facility near Bilbao that will combine hydrogen with carbon dioxide to make synthetic aviation and marine fuels.
Porsche will be using an e-fuel made from air and water with wind power in Chile during its Mobil 1 Supercup racing series this season and Formula 1, where Aramco sponsors the Aston Martin team, is switching to it in 2026. Aramco is currently the fuel supplier for the Formula 2 series.
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Ford also cited the e-fuel as a major part of its decision to join Formula 1 with Red Bull in 2026.
The Saudi Aramco H2 hydrogen-powered racing truck, developed by Gaussin, on display during the Dakar Rally in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. State-controlled oil producer Saudi Aramco sponsored the first hydrogen fueled truck to compete in the Dakar Rally, which takes place in Saudi Arabia Jan. 2-14. (Photographer: Tasneem Alsultan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Aramco entered a hydrogen fuel-cell powered Class 8 truck in the Dakar off-road race across the Saudi Arabian desert in 2022 as a demonstration of the technology's potential.