Students from Alicante Reimagine the Future of Automotive with Green Hydrogen

Green hydrogen has emerged in recent years as one of the leading technologies to achieve the planet's decarbonisation, a goal set by the international community for 2050. The high pollution generated by cars powered by fossil fuels makes the automotive sector one of the most affected by this new technology, which emits only water vapour, leaving no residues in the air.

A group of vocational training students from the province of Alicante have gained first-hand knowledge of how green hydrogen has the potential to end the dependency on fossil fuels. The students, from CIPFP Canastell in San Vicente del Raspeig and IES Enric Valor in Castalla, participated in an international competition to design a hydrogen-powered remote-controlled car.

The initiative was launched by the Higher Polytechnic School of Mondragon Unibertsitatea as part of the European project 'H2Excellence'. In total, 91 students divided into 14 teams from nine European educational centres participated in the competition. They were all tested by preparing a report on their design, accompanied by an explanatory video.

In the document, they had to justify each of the eight vehicle systems: hydrogen production, storage, fuel cell, electric traction, mechanical drive, bodywork, and energy efficiency chain. These justifications had to be based on theoretical calculations, simulations, and experimental results.

CIPFP Canastell contributed two working groups to the competition, from the Intermediate Degree in Vehicle Electromechanics and the Specialisation Course in Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. The teacher leading the project was Matías Sánchez, who explains that "participation in such initiatives provides the entire educational community with motivation and a great opportunity to access knowledge of new technologies and future industrial developments to improve our students' accessibility to the job market."

In the case of hydrogen as an energy resource, Sánchez explains that it is a very transversal technological area that affects several professional families at the centre and does not appear in their official curricula.

"Given the speed at which technology evolves and changes in most productive sectors, we need to 'learn-teach' with our students and dive into knowledge puddles and new technologies to improve preparation; and above all, the attitude towards continuous evolution and change in different work areas," explains the teacher from the Alicante centre.

The students had to invest extra time in research, information gathering, use of digital tools, as well as learning to collaborate among the members of each group, working by areas, sharing knowledge and discoveries in hydrogen technologies.

José Enrique García Martín is the teacher in charge of the group from IES de Castalla that participated in the competition, in their case from the Intermediate Degree in Electrotechnical Installations. Eight of his students independently undertook the design of the remote-controlled car based on the documentation provided from the competition call.

"The goal was for students to understand the importance of hydrogen and its technical fundamentals, and then apply all those fundamentals to a real case," explains the teacher. The designed remote-controlled vehicle had to include a hydrogen cell to generate the combustion needed to start it. In other words, this system charges batteries that ultimately power the electric motor. The result of this entire process is a substance as harmless as water vapour, unlike the highly polluting emissions produced by gasoline.

One of the students who immersed himself in this educational project was Pedro Blanes, who highlights how "difficult" yet "exciting" the project was. "When we started, we knew little about green hydrogen, and we had to research a lot. I want to pursue a career in the automotive world, so this experience is very beneficial for understanding the potential that green hydrogen can have in this sector."