Green Team Twente favourite in London Eco Marathon

This weekend, Green Team Twente and its new hydrogen car, H2.Zero, will be competing with hundreds of student teams from all across Europe. The team is aiming for a podium spot at the Shell Eco Marathon, Europe’s major energy-efficiency race to be held in London. Their preparations all went smoothly. One of the few Dutch teams at this event, Green Team Twente is the favourite in their class (Urban Concept Class). 

This year, Green Team Twente’s new hydrogen car features major improvements on previous models and has been designed with the specific challenges of the hilly London course in mind. The energy content of a Snickers bar would be enough to keep the H2.Zero on the road for a full three hours.

During the Shell Eco Marathon, the aim is to drive as efficiently and economically as possible on the fuel of your choice. This year, for the first time, the European race will be held on a track that runs around London’s famous Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The previous site was Ahoy, in Rotterdam. The new course features many steep hills and sharp turns. ‘That presents us with a host of new challenges,’ says Hessel Bierma, speaking on behalf of Green Team Twente. ‘For instance, the course includes a two-hundred-metre climb, a steep descent and a 90-degree turn. Needless to say we have adapted our car to meet these challenges. We have also made a few design changes.’

Tip top preparation

Last month, the team took part in the EducEco Challenge in France and put in a very successful performance. ‘The main reason for taking part in that competition was to prepare ourselves for the Eco Marathon’, says Hessel Bierma. ‘It was important test for our H2.Zero, and it went very well indeed. We have further perfected both our driving strategy and the car’s tuning.’ The many hills on the course around London’s famous Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park led the team to modify the entire powertrain of the previous hydrogen vehicle. The gearbox and the buffer have also been renewed. ‘Modifications have also been made to the engine controller, enabling us to safely use regenerative braking. This means that we can now recover energy that would otherwise have been lost’, explains Mr Bierma.

About Green Team Twente

Green Team Twente 2016 consists of 17 students from various disciplines. The majority of them are from Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente. However, the team also includes students from the Industrial Design, Chemical Engineering, Advanced Technology, Creative Technology, and Industrial Engineering and Management programmes. Students from a range of studies can take ‘Green Team Twente’ as a minor.

Green Team Twente Young

This year, as in previous years, the team is deeply committed to promoting sustainability, engineering and technology, and to hydrogen as the fuel of the future, especially among young people. For instance, this year there is a Green Team Twente Young, made up of pupils from Bonhoeffer College in Enschede. They, too, will be travelling to the Eco Marathon in London, where they will be competing in the Urban Concept Battery Electric Class.