Green Team Twente unveils the design for the 2020 hydrogen car

On Tuesday 10th December the design presentation of Green Team Twente took place in the Vrijhof at the University of Twente/Saxion.

The team has revealed the design, and with it all the changes, of the hydrogen car that they will race at the Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) Europe in London in July. In the presentation all components were explained separately with the biggest changes being the new engine and the internal structure.

The goal of this year’s design is to make the car more efficient, as well as making the car more robust, reliable and user-friendly. This all because the team has not only the goal to win the SEM but also has the sub goal to get the car road legal.

Sensor Technology has been sponsoring Green Team Twente with the use of one of its rotary torque sensors, to allow the team to build fixtures to test the motors they are using to drive the wheels. Motor efficiency is imperative for this application and the data generated will continue to help maximise performance.

The structure of the car was first explained during the presentation. The big change is on the inside of the car where fewer bulkheads are placed so that there is more space and the systems become more accessible. The drive line and suspension were then discussed. The suspension is fully adapted to the new structure, but the big change lies with the engine. The team reintroduces a hub engine in the car. They go from the gearbox system, powered by 4 electric motors, to one hub motor. A hub motor is a motor that sits in the wheel which means that there are no losses in the power transfer. The last two topics of the presentation were the hydrogen system and the strategy, in which no radical changes take place, but these systems are further optimized and made more reliable.

With all this, Green Team Twente expects to win the Shell Eco-Marathon for the second year in a row. In the coming weeks, the entire team will work very hard to bring all these designs to life.