Extreme H to debut as a Hydrogen World Cup event in Saudi Arabia
By Alan BaldwinSeptember 2, 20254:58 PM GMT+6Updated September 2, 2025
Sept 2 (Reuters) – Pioneering hydrogen off-road racing series Extreme H will debut as a week-long World Cup event in Saudi Arabia next month after organisers scrubbed plans to hold a multi-round global championship.
Series founder Alejandro Agag told Reuters agreement had been reached with the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA)
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Previous plans had envisaged a five-round calendar starting in Saudi Arabia last April with further races in Britain, Germany, Italy and the United States.
Agag, blaming the delay on logistical issues, said:
It’s been very challenging, especially from the technology side, because nobody has really executed hydrogen — full hydrogen — races,
“Nobody has done it ever before. There have been some attempts to do some hydrogen vehicles in other series but not a pure hydrogen race. And those attempts were not really successful in the end.So we wanted to do something really, really special, really spectacular, and everything is ready for that.”
Extreme H replaces Extreme E, which promoted sustainability and electric vehicles by racing SUVs in harsh areas already hit by environmental damage.
The switch to hydrogen, to be produced by splitting water through electrolysis using renewable energy, will see a shift away from remote locations.
The event in Saudi Arabia will see Extreme E bow out on one weekend before Extreme H debuts on the second with rally-style races against the clock as well as driver head-to-heads.
Extreme E has raced before in Al-Ula, Jeddah and NEOM but Qiddiya, near Riyadh, could be another option.
Agag, said:
There’s going to be the Hydrogen World Cup every year,
“Then it may expand to more events — two or three events, in principle all in the region.”
Saudi investment fund PIF are expected to be a principal partner.
Agag, said:
Saudi, and especially NEOM, has huge green hydrogen projects,
“I think Saudi and Aramco and all the companies in Saudi are really, let’s say, betting on hydrogen.So that makes it really come together in terms of doing it there and developing the technologies… it’s going to be really a hub of hydrogen technology not only in the cars — charging, transporting it, storing it.”
Extreme E, launched in 2021 with identical SUVs and male and female drivers in every lineup, had ventured as far as Senegal, Greenland, Chile and Uruguay.
Formula One champions Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were among the team owners.
Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Amsterdam, editing by Christian Radnedge
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Extreme H to debut as a Hydrogen World Cup event in Saudi Arabia, source
