Student teams organise fuel efficiency challenge for hydrogen vehicles

HAN Hydromotive's Automotive student team, together with Green Team Twente and Eco-Runner Team Delft, is organising the Hydrogen Efficiency Challenge. The race, which takes place on Friday 11 June, is an alternative to the Shell Eco-marathon. This has been cancelled due to corona measures.

Teams have been active for some time and focus on building sustainable, energy-efficient vehicles. Normally, teams with these vehicles compete during the Shell Eco-marathon. However, this race has been cancelled for the second time in a row due to corona measures. A setback for the student teams involved, who put a lot of time and energy into developing their vehicles.

With the Hydrogen Efficiency Challenge, the teams are now organising their own alternative. This is an efficiency challenge with sustainable hydrogen vehicles that will take place on Friday 11 June. The race will take place at the Circuit Park Berghem in North Brabant.

"It's a tremendously fun and educational experience on top of my studies. Since September, we have been busy as a team making our sustainable hydrogen vehicle as efficient as possible," says Giovanni Pels, 2nd year Automotive student at the University of Arnhem and Nijmegen (HAN) and this year secretary of the HAN Hydromotive team. It is the second year in a row that the Shell Eco-marathon will not take place. "And precisely the Shell Eco-marathon is the distinct opportunity for us to put this unique project, the course and the academy on the map. Nevertheless, because we are enormously curious to see the result we can achieve, we will take part in the economy challenge on 11 June against teams from Delft and Twente technical universities."

"To give the final piece of this cool project as many viewers as possible, we thought of making it a big livestream. Partners, fellow students and others interested in engineering and the environment can thus follow this exciting competition up close."

Hydrogen Efficiency Challenge is specifically aimed at hydrogen-powered vehicles. This is not the case with the Shell Eco-marathon. Teams have to drive as far as possible on the equivalent of 1 kWh or 1 litre of fuel. The current record stands at 3,771 km. This is equivalent to a round trip between Amsterdam and Rome.

Alternatively, Eco-Runner Team Delft, Green Team Twente and HAN Hydromotive are challenging each other on 11 June. The teams want to record the most efficient ride possible. To do so, they will use the hydrogen-based city car they designed for the Shell Eco-marathon. In total, the teams will drive four 'attempts'. Each 'attempt' consists of a 15-lap track, for which the teams will have a maximum of 35 minutes.

At each round, the teams perform a stop-and-go, during which the vehicle comes to a complete stop. These stops are designed to mimic traffic situations in a city. A measurement of the amount of hydrogen in the tank both at the start and at the end of each 'attempt' reveals the consumption. The team that makes the most efficient attempt over the day is the winner.

Do you want to follow the Hydrogen Efficiency Challenge live? A liveblog will be available from 11:30 on Friday 11 June 2021. Through the liveblog, you can follow the different 'attempts'. The schedule is as follows:

You can watch the final attempt and the subsequent award ceremony live from 16:15 to 17:30. Through interviews, the teams want to create more depth on the subject of hydrogen.

Another student team - Solar Team Twente - is also taking part in an alternative sustainability challenge this year. The student team is competing with its solar car in the Solar Challenge Morocco, which starts on 25 October. The race is an alternative to the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. This race has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More information is available here.

Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel