While the T1-U category continues to progress and brings together vehicles already able to tackle the technical nature and especially the distance of the Dakar, the “Mission 1000” programme will play the role of a laboratory, a status the event has claimed since its beginnings. The most innovative decarbonisation technologies are now being called upon to express themselves in a parallel challenge. Each day, the vehicles enrolled will get to grips with a route measuring around one hundred kilometres, on the fringes of the official route but boating similar difficulties.
Only the most energy-efficient engines are concerned by the “Mission 1000” project: hydrogen, full electric or also hybrid engines using a minimal amount of biofuel.
There are no winners or losers. Although their eventual aim is to take part in a genuine competition, the “Mission 1000” participants are initially invited to take part in a full-scale test, enabling manufacturers to gather as much information as possible. However, their performances in terms of technical reliability, energy consumption and carbon footprint will be assessed by a panel of experts.
A dozen vehicles – bikes, cars and trucks – are expected to take part in this project backed by the FIA and FIM. Each evening they will have their own dedicated part of the bivouac, which will be self-sufficient in terms of energy, but open to all to encourage as much discussion as possible about the subject.
