The presence of electric vehicles has become more and more prominent in our daily lives. According to IEA (2021), in 2020 the industry reached new heights as it hit the 10 million stock mark and a 4.6% market share of total cars sales globally. Specifically in the European Union, the shift from fossil fuel cars to electric cars is on a rise as it has become the biggest sales market of electric cars, surpassing China. Moreover, earlier this year the EU announced its proposal effective ban for new fossil fuels cars from 2035 (Carey & Steitz, 2021).
In that light, the announcement of Formula 1 to target 100% sustainable fuels by the middle of this decade might seem out of place.
First of all, let’s answer the question as to what 100% sustainable fuel actually is? It is a fuel that uses advanced components from either carbon capture schemes, municipal waste or non-food biomass (Stuart, 2021). Carbon capture is a new technique which takes carbon directly out of the air and reuses the carbon to generate energy. Non-food biomass can be anything from algae to agricultural waste. This sustainable fuel has the ability to achieve greenhouse gas emission savings of at least 65% compared to traditional fossil derived patrol.
It is expected that the rise of electric vehicles will continue and that full-on electric vehicles will contribute for 8% of the 1.8 billion predicted cars produced in 2030 (Stuart, 2021). This does, however, illustrate the importance of this development as the vast majority of cars produced in this decade will still use internal combustion engine elements to different extents. Moreover, the development of electric trucks, trains and aircrafts is still nowhere near that of cars thus traditional fuels will continue to play a big role longer than currently is stated. The techniques used to produce the sustainable fuel for the F1, has the potential to be produced for every means of transport if honed and made mainstream.
Perhaps, the sport with the worst initial reputation in regard to the well-being of the planet is now on its way to introduce a ground-breaking innovation that benefits all. F1 previously has already shown that its innovations regarding its sensors, engines or braking systems have been widely applied all over the world (Kanal, 2019). This illustrates that it is both important to innovate into new directions but to also always look on how traditional concepts can be improved as a synergy is needed before the new innovation can reach its full potential.
References
Carey, N. & Steitz, C., 2021. EU proposes effective ban for new fossil-fuel cars from 2035. [Online]
Available at: EU proposes effective ban for new fossil-fuel cars from 2035
[Accessed 5 October 2021].
IEA, 2021. Trends and developments in electric vehicle markets. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2021/trends-and-developments-in-electric-vehicle-markets
[Accessed 25 October 2021].
Kanal, S., 2019. How F1 technology has supercharged the world. [Online]
Available at: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.how-f1-technology-has-supercharged-the-world.6Gtk3hBxGyUGbNH0q8vDQK.html
[Accessed 5 October 2021].
Stuart, G., 2021. Pat Symonds on how Formula 1 are creating the next generation of 100% sustainable fuels. [Online]
Available at: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.pat-symonds-on-how-formula-1-are-creating-the-next-generation-of-100.6XCGNQ3ExMhbhYy338Qgi2.html
[Accessed 5 October 2021].
Hi Anne, really interesting post about this subject. I like how you managed to highlight the discrepancy in that the sport with, probably, the worst reputation regarding sustainability now has the possibility to make a huge contribution to sustainable fuel. Your post does make me really curious about how this will eventually turn out, seeing that some major stakeholders in the F1 sport are also stakeholders in the fossil fuel industry. I wonder if they will root for this development or try to obstruct it.
Hi Anne, nice blog post!
I find these developments in motorsport very interesting. As an F1 fan, I must admit it is a relief to know the sport will stay away from electric race cars. F1 would not be the same without the sound of high revving engines.
Of course, there were way more important factors weighing into the decision to go for sustainable fuels. As you mentioned in your post, we are very far from all cars being electric. Therefore, it is critical for the innovative power of F1 to contribute to finding a shorter-term solution to the fossil fuels problem.