Aurora One represents already the seventh generation of a hydrogen car made by the Green Team. Apart from its obvious new color, the car comes with a list of other changes. It’s faster and its carbon-fiber body has been completely redesigned. As the team’s Technical Manager Luc Djozin-Kemadjou explains: ‘Unlike the previous team, we have designed and built a completely new car, which has been very time-consuming and challenging. However, the current design should improve the vehicle’s aerodynamic properties by 25%.’
The team has high hopes for Aurora One. They want to secure two golden medals at the annual Shell Eco Marathon (SEM), held in July in London. They not only want to win the marathon, like the last year’s Green Team, they also want the first place in the SEM Drivers' World Championship.
New rules
SEM has changed a few rules this year, which meant new requirements for the Green Team’s creation. ‘The competing cars now need certified brakes, so we had to redesign the suspension,’ explains the Technical Manager. ‘SEM also introduced new rules about the electric system – now also the secondary electrical system of the car counts for calculating its consumption. We therefore had to remake that as well, to achieve the needed efficiency. On top of that, we now have two full-time chemical engineers working on the hydrogen cell. We hope to increase its efficiency from 30% to 60%.’
Djozin-Kemadjou continues naming Aurora One’s new features: ‘For the first time in the Green Team’s history, the car comes with two doors, which also brought a lot of complications.’ Why opt for this extra challenge? ‘Next year, SEM will change their rules and two doors will be required on all vehicles, so we wanted to make it easier on the next team,’ he replies.
Faster than ever before
There is one more important thing that sets Aurora One apart from its older siblings. Speed. ‘We increased our top speed from 36 km/h to 46 km/h,’ says Djozin-Kemadjou. ‘Last year the team didn’t prepare for the Drivers' World Championship, but we did. We added an extra motor, so we can accelerate faster. We are still aiming for high efficiency – hopefully close to the 1000 km/l - , but we also want the first place in the Drivers' World Championship held at the end of SEM.’
Green team twente at sem
The Green Team Twente is a UT student team dedicated to building a fuel-efficient hydrogen car, with which they compete in the annual Shell Eco Marathon (SEM). This year’s edition of the competition will take place from the 5th until the 8th of July in London.
