HAN in Shell Eco Marathon

Seven teams with hydrogen-powered vehicles will be taking part in the Shell Eco Marathon. The race will be run from the 26th to the 28th of May at the Eurospeedway Lausitz circuit in Germany.

Seven teams with hydrogen-powered vehicles will be taking part in the Shell Eco Marathon, which will be run from the 26th to the 28th of May at the Eurospeedway Lausitz circuit in Germany. The Marathon is for students at universities and technical and scientific research institutes all over Europe. The idea is for the teams to develop vehicles that run as far as possible on a single litre of fuel. This can be conventional fuel (petrol, diesel or LPG) or alternative sources of energy (biofuel, ethanol, solar energy or hydrogen). The purpose of the race is to encourage young people to come up with innovations and sustainable solutions for transport and mobility. There are two categories of vehicle: Prototypes, which have a futuristic and streamlined appearance, and Urban Concepts, which look more like modern cars. Participating in this, the 27th running of the Marathon, will be 222 teams from 26 countries, including a record number of 11 teams from the Netherlands.

Four Dutch teams will be competing with hydrogen-powered vehicles in the Prototype category: the Eco-Runner Team Delft from the Delft University of Technology, Phidippides from the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Triple-X from Damstede College in Amsterdam and Team HvA Amsterdam from the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. There are three teams with hydrogen-powered vehicles in the Urban Concept category: The Hydro Cruisers from the Hague University of Applied Sciences, Team HAN Hydromotive from the Arnhem and Nijmegen College and the Euregiorunners from the Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Heerlen. These teams' vehicles will be powered using a fuel cell, which converts hydrogen into elecricity.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles have previously been successful in the Shell Eco Marathon. Last year's race was won by the Polytech’ Nantes Team from France, which competed with a hydrogen-powered vehicle. The French team even broke the world record, with the vehicle running 4896 kilometres on one litre of hydrogen. Two of the Dutch teams completed the race. Team Phidippides from the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences achieved 1164 kilometres on one litre of hydrogen, and The Hydro Cruisers, the team from the Hague University of Applied Sciences, won the Urban Concept category with a score calculated to be 1 litre per 747 kilometres.