World’s First Student Built Hydrogen Racing Car Unveiled!

In Automobile

On July 9th, the first student-designed and built hydrogen racing car was unveiled in The Hague. The hydrogen vehicle, called the Forze IV, was created by students at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands and will be racing in the upcoming Formula Student; a race between 500 cars designed by students around the world. The Forze IV will be the first and only car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell in the race.

“We are the first team in this worldwide competition to race using a hydrogen fuel cell. That’s a huge technical challenge in a racing car,” says team manager Wouter Krul.

The hydrogen fuel cell provides electricity to the car and the only byproduct of the reaction within the engine is water. “This racing car is the first of its size to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell,” says Krul. “The hydrogen car has a maximum speed of 120 km per hour and accelerates just as fast as a Porsche.”

The team of 50 students that developed the car have been working for 3 years with hydrogen fuel-cell powered automobiles, and their previous attempts have been more like go-carts than racing cars. This year they stepped it up a notch with the Forze IV which has a complex suspension, a race car-like body and a new hydrogen fuel cell designed completely by the students involved.

The team from Delft University has been participating in the Formula Student since 2000 and last year won the race with their ultra-light bio-ethanol powered racing car.