Eco-Runner Team Delft is Revolutionizing Hydrogen Power and Fuel Flexibility

Talking to the team manager of Eco-Runner Team Delft, a group of TU Delft students and alumni pushing the boundaries of hydrogen power and fuel-flexible technology. In this article, we explore their latest innovations, from breaking records with hydrogen-powered cars to developing a vehicle that can run on multiple renewable fuels, their work is redefining sustainable mobility and manufacturing. 

Can you introduce yourself and the team and tell us a bit more about the project and how it all started?

Sure. My name is Bart de Waart. I am the team manager here at Eco-Runner Team Delft. I obtained my bachelor's degree here at the Delft University of Technology last year. And went on to do a full-time year here at this team, where we have been designing and building cars to promote sustainable mobility for almost twenty years now.

The last 13 cars have all been hydrogen-powered. We built hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles to promote the idea that this is a fuel we can use in our transport sector to make mobility and life more sustainable. It all started as a small student group—a team that decided to build a car together—and now we are a team of 26, each contributing in different ways. We have the operations side, which focuses on PR and social media, managing events, and handling partnerships.

Both the budget and our capabilities have expanded significantly. The development of the team has come a long way.

Can you share more details about the project itself? You're currently working on a car—can you tell us more about that specific vehicle?

As I said, the last cars were all hydrogen-powered. But from this year on, we decided that we wanted to take a new step, as we thought we want to be on the front line of innovation.

Hydrogen has really taken off, and the sector is already working with hydrogen a lot. We want to look into something new, something innovative. So, we are starting to explore the idea of creating a fuel-flexible car—that is, a vehicle capable of running on a broad range of fuels, including various green carbohydrates. Think of green methane or green methanol, some biofuels, and even green hydrogen. Being flexible in the fuels that you can use also accelerates the energy transition by allowing the use of locally available renewable fuels or the existing infrastructure for certain fuel blends, while also reducing reliance on a single type of fuel.

This is how we came up with the idea of integrating a gas turbine into a car. A gas turbine is a technology already used in airplanes, for example, or in larger combined heat and power installations. For instance, heat pumps next to your house use similar technology. And we thought, crazy idea—let's put that into a car, because it’s a technology that can utilize different fuels.

This year, our goal is to build a car powered by an externally fired gas turbine. Starting from scratch, we hope to have a fully functional driving car by the end of the year. We want to show its capability by driving 400 kilometers on 40 liters of green methanol in June. Green methanol is a fuel produced using only air, water, and solar energy, making it entirely renewable.

Can you take us into the development process and how does this car contribute to sustainability?

We started from scratch and conducted research to determine what is needed and which components are required. Following that, we began designing the car.

Around Christmas—following the academic year—we completed our design and move on to production. We have started manufacturing the different components, assemble them, and finally create a fully functional vehicle, just one.

Our aim is to showcase to the world and trigger individuals on what is possible. Our goal is not to mass-produce a thousand cars and establish a company; we focus on developing innovative technology to push boundaries. 

For example, last year, we were the first ones building a street-legal hydrogen-powered car. The year before that, we built the world record holder for the greatest distance driven on one tank of hydrogen. We pursue these ambitious projects to prove what is possible—just as a group of 26 students. There is so much potential, and that’s how we want to contribute to a sustainable economy.

Every year, we build an entire car. The one we are working on now is our 15th, meaning we have 14 completed cars standing in line.

What excites you the most about showcasing your project at Rematec? And will we see the technique and your gained knowledge on hydrogen cars in the development of the automotive industry in the next few years?

Earlier, I mentioned the world record holder—the Eco 13, the car we will be bringing to Rematec. We’re excited to showcase how lightweight and aerodynamic we made it, as these factors are crucial in achieving a world record.
The car is also very small—you can only fit one person inside. This raises an important question about vehicle design. Why do we build cars for seven people when, on average, only 1.4 people are in a car at a time? Why do we always need large cars when smaller, lighter cars can be much more efficient?

By combining various technologies, we hope to inspire the automotive industry to rethink vehicle design. They don’t need to copy our car, but they can examine the technologies we used to set the record and consider how to apply them in future cars.

We started with hydrogen in 2006 and have already seen its growth. We started from zero, and here we are now. That’s a great effort.

How do you see the impact of the future of these cars? The ones you are developing and what you are building upon.

I think that relates back to the fuel flexibility that we talked about before. We are trying to inspire, this time with fuel flexibility. For example, to make mobility more sustainable, so towards that world where mobility is sustainable in all kinds. 

Also, we know that, for example, hydrogen cars and electric vehicles are big and there's a lot happening around that in the transport sector. But not all kinds of transport can fully go on to electric batteries or hydrogen, which also has a lot of challenges still in infrastructure or logistics. So we need to be a bit more flexible and also for aviation, for planes, for example, or heavier trucks and the maritime industry.

Higher volumetric density fuels are sometimes needed more than hydrogen. Their advantage is that they allow people to carry more fuel. That’s why we are developing a fuel-flexible car—to make people think: Hey, this might be what we need. This could be integrated into future vehicles.

What is your goal for this car? Is there maybe something you would like to add?

For this year, we are hoping to drive with our car powered by an external gas turbine to drive 400 kilometers on 40 liters of green methanol. And then next year, we'll continue to build upon that. 

And will you proceed on the track of fuel flexible cars, or will you have a complete other or new idea next year?

We'll proceed with the fuel flexible cars. We’re still researching on how it will look exactly because we believe there's more possibilities than just the gas turbine, which is a good start. Hopefully we can make it even more efficient and more fuel flexible, or maybe not.

We will continue to develop ideas that can make the technology better or more suitable for the mobility industry. But for now it’s just ideas that we have and that we're researching. In a few years, we will have developed a car that can efficiently run on various types of fuels. We aim to have a proof of concept for this technology, demonstrating that the mobility industry is prepared to embrace this new approach to transportation.