Renew yourself or die from pollution and social rejection, the challenge of the Dakar is to achieve a totally green rally in 2030, with 100% of the participating vehicles being low-emission vehicles within seven years.
This is how the Dakar Future plan designed by the organization of the test, the French company ASO, plans it, outlining an "energy transition" that started last year with the emergence of biofuels and the arrival of the first electrified cars (hybrids, not fully electric) at the hands of Audi –who came to win 3 of the 12 stages–.
In this edition, some competitors go a step further in the decarbonisation goal with a higher percentage of renewable components in fuels, or with a decided commitment to hydrogen, as is the case of the truck of the Catalan KH-7 Epsilon team that Jordi crews Juvanteny, José Luis Criado and Jordi Ballbé.
"We are the only vehicle that uses hydrogen as an energy source in the caravan," says Juvanteny, who is facing his 31st Dakar. The idea of hydrogen “came up three years ago, when David Castera [the rally director] presented the Dakar Future, and we began to investigate, first with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) – which they took on the 2022 Dakar -; the definitive step is hydrogen, it is the future: it is a cleaner gas than oil”, argues Criado, co-pilot with 31 editions in tow.
The advantage of hydrogen, as detailed by Xavi Ribas, the team's engineer, is that "it allows, without losing performance – while maintaining the same power – to eliminate 50% of diesel consumption", which could reach one liter per kilometer in the stages of more sand; that is, 500 or 600 liters per stage. "Therefore, we eliminate 50% of CO2 emissions, polluting particles and nitrogen oxides." The aim of the team is "to reach 90% hydrogen use".
The truck, a Man 6x6 with 780 CV, has two tanks with 400 liters of hydrogen, which is about 9-10 kg.
The nitrogen loading operation in the truck is carried out with a portable station (tanker trucks) that will be supplied by the Saudi state company Aramco. It will be at the end of each stage. “It involves a great logistical effort, and a lot of money; the cost increases, because the oil there was free”.
The autonomy that hydrogen gives them remains to be verified. "The calculation we made was: with 7 kg of hydrogen we went from Barcelona to Marseille (500 km) and we consumed about 100 liters less diesel and polluted 45% less CO2 emissions," according to Juvanteny. Just in case, they continue to carry the two diesel tanks, with 900 liters.
Although, risks, neither more nor less than gasoline”. And Criado illustrates this with a comment made by a bus driver from Barcelona (where 8 units already run on hydrogen): "I ride 600 people every day and none of them make a will when they get on."
