MAN ON A MISSION

Pitting himself against nature in the most challenging solo adventures, be it swimming solo in the Amazon River or circumnavigating the Earth, Mike Horn brings attention to melting ice caps, deforestation, and clean energy. In a conversation with MITRAJIT BHATTACHARYA, the adventurer talks about his latest expeditions, love for cricket, and mission of introducing hydrogen-powered vehicles in the world of rally raids.

- MITRAJIT BHATTACHARYA

How is your hydrogen project coming along?

The hydrogen project is exciting. I think this is bigger than Tesla. The application of the fuel cell that we have developed is outperforming other fuel cells that we have in the market today. This will allow us to access heavy industries. Cargo ships are the biggest polluters in the world today; what is happening to our oceans is terrible. Imagine taking out all those diesel-powered engines and replacing them with hydrogen fuel cells. You will have vapour coming out on the other side!

Are you on track to meeting your goal: delivering a 400HP hydrogen car at Dakar Rally 2023?

The fuel cell has performed even better than we expected, and we now have delivery of up to 640 horsepower. So, our goalpost has changed a little bit. We feel [that] building one car for the Dakar Rally will make less impact than commercialising this technology and giving it to buses, trains, planes, and trucks. So, along with putting this fuel cell into commercial vehicles, we will also develop 10 hydrogen vehicles that will enter the race at Dakar, where you can pit hydrogen against hydrogen in a category. One year ago, we believed that building just one car was going to be an exploit, but now we see that this technology can make 10 cars. But that will take us until 2024.

You have a long-standing partner brand in Panerai. How involved are they in giving shape to your vision of sustainability with exploration?