Formula Zero was an organization based out of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in the Netherlands and was founded in 2003. Its vision was to demonstrate that zero emissions technology can be both fun and sustainable at the same time by racing to get people interested in

hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

technology. In 2005, Formula Zero began construction of the Mark 2, the world's first fully functional fuel-cell powered go-kart using

ultracapacitor alt=Supercapacitor, upright=1.5, Schematic illustration of a supercapacitor upright=1.5, A diagram that shows a hierarchical classification of supercapacitors and capacitors of related types A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, ...

s for energy storage. On October 26, 2006, the Mark 2 set an official FIA record of 1/8 of a mile in 11.869 seconds. The Mark 2 was featured on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

as a part of the FutureCar television series. Formula Zero set a new FIA record with the Mark 2 in September 2007. The 2008 Formula Zero Championship was the world's first

race series. The first race series consisted of six

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

from all over the world competing in time-trialed races on a two-mile mobile race track. Potential race locations include

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and several other international cities, including one in the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

(

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, March 2009). The Championship began on August 22, 2008 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In March 2011, the ''Formula Zero Championship'' project was shut down with no further events planned.

Competing teams

References

External links

Imperial Racing Green: UK student team to participate in the world’s first ever hydrogen fuel cell race seriesOfficial Formula Zero Website
0 Fuel cell vehicles Electric drag racing 2008 in motorsport {{Autoracing-stub