HYDRO TEAM TARGETS 24 HOURS OF LE MANS IN 2030

'Innovating transportation with hydrogenpowered racing', is the motto of a new team of enterprising engineering students from KU Leuven. The Hydro Team plans to build a hydrogen-powered racing car with which they want to compete against big car brands like Toyota and BMW at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2030. Founder and team leader Anton Lintermans tells the story.

KU Leuven engineering students have a thing for eco-friendly racing cars. Following in the footsteps of the Innoptus Solar Team and Formula Electric Belgium, a new team has set out to revolutionise motorsports with hydrogen technology. However, you do not revolutionise in an instant. That is why the Hydro Team gives itself until 2030 to amaze the world with what hydrogen can do as a clean energy source.

Sheep on Wheels

Anton graduated as a Computer Science Engineer from the Faculty of Engineering Science in July 2024. He is currently following the postgraduate programme in Technovation (Teams & Start-ups). During his studies, Anton engaged as a teaching assistant, board member and webmaster of the Leuven Symphonic Orchestra and co-founder of the High-tech Lab in the Leuven Makerspace (Maakleerplek).

As a senior in secondary school, he founded a non-profit that supports ecological projects including 'Sheep on Wheels', a successful awareness-raising campaign on small-scale plastic recycling. The Hydro Team's project is the product of Anton's drive to be entrepreneurial, innovative, and interdisciplinary while being committed to environmentally friendly technologies. Add to this a gigantic challenge like taking part in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans and you get an unseen cocktail of dynamism and creativity.

Viability

"Our team is a diverse collective of engineering students, guided by experienced professors and industry experts," says Anton.

"As a member of Technovation Hub, we collaborate across various disciplines, including mechanical engineering, electronics, software development, aerodynamics, and more. Beyond the technological aspects, we also manage business-operations, finance, and marketing to ensure the project's success. By integrating hydrogen technology into motorsports, we aim to demonstrate its viability and pave the way for its wider applications."

Anton's team includes eight full-time students and more than seventy part-time volunteers. Among them bachelors and masters as well as postgraduate students.

This at once raises the question: how do you manage such a large and diverse group? "We have divided our core business into four teams," Anton answers. "These are 'Electronics & Software', 'Powertrain', 'Mechanical Engineering' and 'Aero Engineering', each with a team leader who has distinct management qualities. The four technical teams are supported by staff departments such as Marketing, Finance and Business Relations that create the conditions for the developers and builders to function optimally."

Hype

"Hydrogen is the rock star for new energy in the future," declared then-European Commissioner Frans Timmermans when announcing the EU's hydrogen strategy in 2000. Since then, the hype has passed its peak and critical voices are being raised. They point to the expensive production cost, the energy lost when converting electricity to hydrogen and then back to electricity, the lower efficiency, safety, etc. Tesla boss Elon Musk recently called the use of hydrogen for road transport "mind-bogglingly stupid".

Of course, Anton and his team know these objections, but they are already looking beyond. According to them, hydrogen, as most environmentally friendly energy carrier, will help play a decisive role in achieving net zero emissions worldwide. "Right now, the disadvantages seem to outweigh the advantages because the technology is not yet ready to conquer the market like electricity already did. That is exactly the challenge we want to take on. There is still a huge amount to develop. If academia and industry pull together, the future of hydrogen will look completely different in a few years' time. We want to play a central role in this interplay by becoming a knowledge centre that brings both worlds together," Anton says.

Foundation

When asked about the goals for the current academic year, Anton explains that the focus is on setting up the foundations of the team and building recognition within the industry. "We are working hard to make connections, secure our first partners, and gather the necessary funds."

One of the most ambitious targets of is to deliver the team’s first hydrogen-powered prototype race car. "We’re converting an existing internal combustion engine provided by Ford to run on hydrogen and integrating it into a race car that we’ll design and construct in collaboration with our partners."

The goal is to unveil the prototype by September 2025, highlighting the team’s capabilities and vision. "The prototype will serve as the cornerstone of our ambitious plan to compete at Le Mans within six years," Anton concludes.

-Yves Persoons

 www.hydroteam.be