Twente students race across Europe with new hydrogen car 'Mira'

Student team HyDriven from Enschede has unveiled its new hydrogen race car for the coming season: Mira. With this car, the team will compete this year in Germany, France and Austria, in the international Formula Student competition.

A star called Mira

The name fits the team, which always picks a name from astronomy. Mira is a star in the constellation Cetus, the Whale. A whale swims in water, which ties in nicely with a hydrogen car. At the same time it is a wink: the hydrogen car is somewhat heavier than the mostly electric cars in the competition. Even so, Mira is lighter, faster and more powerful than the Twente team's earlier models. And notably, the car is race-ready months before the start of the racing season, an impressive feat in this student competition.

Who is HyDriven?

HyDriven is a multidisciplinary student team of around thirty students from the University of Twente, Saxion and ROC van Twente. They work together from a shared workshop at Kennispark Twente. The team has existed since 2021 under the name HyDriven (formerly Green Team Twente) and focuses entirely on hydrogen technology within Formula Student, the world's largest student racing competition, in which teams compete with self-built race cars.

Pioneers being followed

For a long time, HyDriven was the only team with a hydrogen car in the field. That is now changing, partly thanks to their pioneering role. At the biggest event, on the Red Bull Ring in Austria, around forty teams take part; five of them now run on hydrogen. Two years ago, the Twente team was still the only one. According to the team, that number is growing, not least because other teams are taking cues from Twente.

Last season the team already made history: with its predecessor NOVA, HyDriven was the first self-built hydrogen fuel-cell car to drive on the Red Bull Ring and pass technical scrutineering. The experience and data from that season have been used to refine Mira further.

Why hydrogen in racing?

For HyDriven, racing is a way to show what hydrogen can do: not only clean, but also with power and speed. The team wants to make the automotive industry and other sectors aware of hydrogen's potential, and to encourage other student teams to switch, with the dream of a dedicated hydrogen class within Formula Student.

Alongside battery-electric driving, this project is a great illustration of how broad the route to zero-emission mobility can be. The track is a living laboratory for the students, where they test and improve hydrogen technology under the toughest conditions.

Sources

• Oost.nl / RTV Oost – oost.nl
• 1Twente – 1twente.nl
• University of Twente – utwente.nl
• Innovation Origins – innovationorigins.com
• HyDriven – hydriven.nl