The Técnico Fuel Cell (TFC) team, made up of students from Instituto Superior Técnico, passed the technical inspection at the Shell Eco-marathon for the first time. The team competed in the ‘Urban Concept – Hydrogen’ category, which includes city cars powered by this fuel, and ranked 6th. This is the first achievement of the first hydrogen car developed by students in Portugal, presented on 28 March.

“Passing the technical inspection was a huge victory, as it was very difficult and demanding”, says João Lotra, a Técnico student and a member of TFC. The Shell Eco-marathon technical team probes critical aspects of each vehicle – brakes, car body, chassis, seatbelts, suspension system, windscreen wipers. In the 2023 edition, the team presented the vehicle still incomplete, but this year it passed the test.

In the second stage, the participants in the ‘Urban Concept – Hydrogen’ category had to complete ten laps of the race track, covering 16 kilometres in less than 38 minutes, starting with a litre of hydrogen at 200 bar pressure. At the end, the vehicle that achieves the best energy efficiency (consuming the least fuel for the same journey) wins the race. The TFC vehicle didn’t complete the required ten laps but demonstrated a top speed of 45 kilometres per hour and a range of 52 kilometres per litre of hydrogen (at 200 bar pressure).

“The competition was very important for the team, both in demonstrating our efforts over the years and defining the team’s objectives for the coming years”, says João Lotra, also stressing “we learnt how to work as a team during times of stress and achievement”.