Dutch team win in Shell Eco-marathon

Awards / Product design

With 848 km/l, the Dutch team of the De Haagse Hogeschool/TH Rijswijk Academie voor Engineering took home first prize in the UrbanConcept category with their hydrogen powered vehicle.

By Editor Design.nl / 02-06-2008

With 848 km/l, the Dutch team of the De Haagse Hogeschool/TH Rijswijk Academie voor Engineering took home first prize in the UrbanConcept category with their hydrogen powered vehicle.

The aim of the Shell Eco-marathon is to inspire young designers and engineers from around the world to develop new approaches of sustainable mobility. It is a major educational project, in which students work together to explore potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges. Teams can enter two main categories:

-futuristic prototypes - which are streamlined vehicles where the primary design consideration is reducing drag and maximising efficiency
-UrbanConcept vehicles - which are built to more conventional 4-wheel roadworthy criteria.

Either conventional fuels (such as diesel, petrol and LPG), or alternative fuels (such as solar, electric, hydrogen, bio-fuels and GTL) can be used to power vehicles.

The goal of the project is not to break speed records or be the first to finish; it is to consume as little fuel as possible over a set distance. This year the competition took place at the Nogaro Racing Circuit in Southwest France. The Dutch team won the UrbanConcept category with their hydrogen powered 'Hydro Cruisers'.