A group of Delft students is working on the world’s most efficient hydrogen car. The towering ambition: to drive at least 2056 kilometers on less than one kilogram of hydrogen. Is this a one-off prestige project or is a revolution imminent?
Every year, students of the Eco-Runner Team Delft build a more efficient hydrogen car, but the latest model must be so strong that it is even possible to cover the dreamed distance (comparable to a ride from the north of the Netherlands to the south of Spain): a world record. To do this, the engineers looked at better robustness and resistance.
Eliane van Boxtel, operations manager of the team, talks about the prototype of 71 kilograms that was presented on Tuesday evening: ,,It’s just a small city car for one person. And that’s fine. At the moment we see that a car has up to five seats, while on average they are hardly occupied. Still, that requires a lot of fuel, for all those extras.”
The prototype of Eco-Runner Team Delft has been completely stripped of all superfluous luxury. ,,We have pushed the limits and achieved bizarre efficiency”, says Van Boxtel. Nevertheless, she sees opportunities for a comparable consumer version on the market in the near future. “The next step is to develop a car that can go on the street, but is still as efficient as possible.”
Less economical
Consumer cars on hydrogen already exist, but they are even less efficient. The BMW iX5 Hydrogen has two hydrogen tanks that together can store just under 6 kilos of hydrogen and thus provide a range of 504 kilometers. And the Toyota Mirai has a tank capacity of 5.6 kilos; with a full tank you can drive up to 650 kilometers. The hydrogen tanks can be refilled in three to four minutes.
In Eco-Runner’s hydrogen car, green hydrogen is converted into electrical energy. This only creates water vapor and heat, which means that large-scale rollout would yield significant environmental benefits. That is also one of the students’ goals, says Van Boxtel. “Our focus is on sustainability. We want to be part of the world’s research towards a zero-emission society, without the use of fossil fuels.”
How realistic is that wish when you look at mobility? “We all have to work on it together. Production, industry, regulations: they all have a role to play,’ say the students in a press release. In short: all vehicles must be smaller, lighter and aerodynamic. It is also the intention that people together use transport in a more sustainable and efficient way, for example by sharing means of transport in the city.
Sixty hours on a German circuit
In June, an attempt will be made on a German circuit to use the Eco-Runner to break the world record for the longest distance ever driven by a hydrogen car without refuelling. Driving in circles for about sixty hours at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour, that is the goal this year. The long-term vision: in the year 2050, the use of this car should be the ‘new normal’ in a world that is more livable than today.
The operations manager does not want to say what the project cost. “We received a lot of help from sponsors and we assembled the prototype ourselves in our workshop. Let me keep it at that.”
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