UTFacultiesETNewsGreen Team Twente wins Eco Marathon in London

Green Team Twente wins Eco Marathon in London

Green Team Twente has won first place in the Shell Eco Marathon, the major European sustainability race in London.

After a thrilling circuit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the heart of London, Twente’s hydrogen-powered vehicle won the Urban Concept hydrogen class, the ‘king class’ of the eco marathon.

Twente’s hydrogen-powered car, the H2∞ (Infinity), consumed the equivalent of 1 litre of fuel per 845 kilometres, a team record and a new Dutch record. Green Team Twente was the only Dutch team to come first in the competition. They managed to pull ahead of La Joliverie Polytech Nantes - a team that had long led the field, but which finished second in London.

Battling it out

On the closing day of the Eco Marathon, 4,000 students from thirty countries battled in various classes and under difficult circumstances with unusually hot weather. The teams had two days to achieve a valid result. The last of the Green Team’s three attempts was its most successful.

Very proud

‘This is what we’d been working towards all year long and we’re very proud of this result,’ said Eeke de Jong on behalf of Green Team Twente. ‘We still can’t quite believe it. Our car and strategy were excellent and that paid off.’

European leaders

Team leader Vitto Bonnemayers received the trophy on behalf of the team from the director of the eco marathon, Norman Koch, in a crowded Queen Elizabeth Park in London. ‘It's wonderful that we finally beat the French team after a few years of trying. We’re also the first Dutch team in years to win their class. There’s no doubt that we’re now one of Europe’s leading teams. We had some minor technical problems on the first day of racing, but the team came through them magnificently. We all worked really hard, so we were delighted to have something to celebrate at the end of it all. The people on the campsite probably thought we were a bit dull because we were so focused, but now we can show them how to party.’

H2∞: car of the future

The H2∞ can travel for three hours on the same amount of energy contained in a Snickers bar. The car symbolizes the vehicles of the future in the category (hydrogen) which, according to the team, represents the automotive sector’s best chance of success. ‘We and our predecessors have worked long and hard to make this work,’ says Bonnemayers. ‘We modified the gearbox of the vehicle, enabling us to achieve optimal efficiency of 99.1%. In theory this means that we could travel from Enschede to Geneva on just one litre of fuel.
The H2∞ also incorporates other innovations, such as a steering wheel inspired by Formula 1. The car can be fully operated via the steering wheel, which includes controls for everything from accelerating to operating the headlights. The team also assembled a system that can read data from every part of the car in real time.

About the Eco Marathon

The idea behind the Shell Eco Marathon is to drive as efficiently and economically as possible using the chosen fuel type. This year, the European edition of the race took place in and around London’s famous Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the second time. Previously, the event had been held at Ahoy in Rotterdam. The 1.6 km long course, which included a sharp bend just after a two-hundred metre sloped section, was even more challenging than last year.

You can follow Green Team Twente on www.greenteamtwente.nl and social media. 

Green Team Twente 2017

Green Team Twente 2017 involves 19 students from various disciplines. The majority are studying Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente, but there are also students from Industrial Design, Advanced Technology, Technical Computer Science, Applied Physics and Public Administration and Technology. The Green Team Twente minor is offered as part of various degree programmes.

Green Team Twente will start the Eco-marathon on Friday, 26 May 2017. The race lasts two days. Follow the team on www.greenteamtwente.nl and the social media channels.