A joint venture between Le Mans 24 Hours organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and hydrogen specialist GreenGT, MissionH24 gave its LMPH2G hydrogen concept a first demonstration run at Spa in 2018, before it took part in a live practice session for a Le Mans Cup round the following year.
Its successor, the H24, featured a completely revamped powertrain with two electric motors (down from four on the LMPH2G) and finished four Le Mans Cup races in 2022.
The H24 car has been an important testbed for the ACO, which set up a working group that first met in May 2018 with the goal of creating a hydrogen category for the Le Mans 24 Hours. This will take effect from 2026, with Toyota the first manufacturer to reveal a concept car earlier this year.
MissionH24 stated that now it has completed "the essential stages of research, development, verification and burn-in testing" of the hydrogen cell system, tanks, electric motors and battery that its “focus has switched to performance to rival the other forms of energy on the track”.
The new car hailed by Mission H24 co-president Jean-Michel Bouresche as “the next exciting step in our move towards zero-carbon motorsport” is planned to weigh 1300kg, 116kg less than the H24, and produce 320km/h with a stated aim of being among the top entries in the LMGT3 class.
ACO President Pierre Fillon said: “After introducing hydrogen to the racetrack, MissionH24 is now entering a new phase: bringing hydrogen to competitive racing!
“This new prototype clearly intends to rival the other forms of energy in the field.
“Hydrogen technology is safe, reliable and can perform. The ambition is now to provide the first zero-emission winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
GreenGT technical director Bassel Aslan added: “Thanks to MissionH24, hydrogen technology has stood out in the competition world.
“Now the time has come to prove that this technology can offer an alternative to fossil fuels with the same efficiency and zero CO2 emission.
“This new car will be for those involved the real symbol of the future of motorsport in line with the energy transition.”
The design of the ADESS chassis, which will be named next month after polling ideas from fans on social media, is set to be completed in March with bench testing of the power unit assembly set to begin in next October before car assembly and the first circuit tests from 2025.
It will be powered by a single electric motor, with a maximum power output of 650kW, up from 350kW on the H24 while saving 18kg, and a battery with a maximum output of 400kW.
A revised Symbio hydrogen cell system using next-gen multi-stack technology is expected to produce a maximum power output of 300 kW, with power density estimated to be 50% greater than the system used on the H24.
Its efficiency means the car will only have two hydrogen tanks supplied by Plastic Omnium, instead of the three in the H24, with optimised weight distribution as a result.
Each tank will be capable of storing 3.9 kg of hydrogen (up from 2.866kg of hydrogen on the H24) at 700 bars for a total weight of around 100kg.
The car will be able to refuel using the infrastructure planned for the future H2 class at Le Mans.
