Sustainable drive concepts for future motorsports

Authors

Lea Schwarz, University of Stuttgart;
Prof. Michael Bargende, FKFS;
Stefan Dreyer, Ulrich Baretzky, Wolfgang Kotauschek, Dr. Florian Bach, AUDI AG

Year

2019

Summary

Global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is one of the major threats to humankind and challenges the automobile industry. Motorsport as a pioneer and a laboratory for automotive technologies has to face this issue and push the development of solutions. Nowadays motorsport is dominated by conventional propulsion systems powered by fossil fuels, predominantly by gasoline. First steps towards sustainability are encouraged by the introduction of regulations with a prime focus on efficiency realized via energy limitation as in FIA Formula One World Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Moreover, alternative concepts as in FIA Formula E or the possible future FIA E-WRX and an intended hydrogen class at the 24 hours of Le Mans set a focus on alternative concepts. However, sustainability is not part of any motorsport regulations yet. There is no holistic evaluation of the most sustainable way of racing at an adequate performance to sustain the core of motorsports and simultaneously advance sustainable technologies. Thus, this study investigates sustainable high-performance concepts for endurance racing. The influence of various propulsion concepts and fuels on lap time performance is analyzed and extended by an ecological evaluation of the environmental impact via life cycle assessment. This innovative
combination of sustainability and motorsports results in the methodical selection of a sustainable high-performance concept for endurance racing.

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