Eco-Runner Team Delft builds a hydrogen-powered car every year. This year, the goal is to design a hydrogen car that can be driven on public roads. Not winning a race, but sharing knowledge is now the central motivation. V.O. sees the value of this for society. That is why we have been sponsoring the team since 2024 and assisting it with our knowledge and legal advice.
From a world record to lasting impact
Eco-Runner Team Delft has been building hydrogen cars since 2006. In 2023, they even broke a world record during a race at the Immendingen circuit in Germany. On one tank containing just 950 grams of hydrogen, the car covered a remarkable 2,488.5 kilometers. So the students have a real winner's mentality and the ambition to push boundaries. They leave the competitions behind (for now) and set to work on a more serious goal: building a car that is allowed to drive on public roads. By doing so, they hope to generate more interest in this technology and spur further developments around hydrogen cars.
Reinventing the wheel?
Because each year a new team of students is ready at Eco-Runner Team Delft, every year it also gets to work with a new car. However, that does not mean that there is no continuity or long-term goals. What it does mean is a sharpened vision. A new car every year, using the knowledge of the cars before it. For example, this year they are happy to reinvent the wheel in a new setting. Because there is no hydrogen car yet that can go on public roads in the Netherlands. In this, Eco-Runner is leading the way in the development of the hydrogen car.
Our support
V.O. stands by Eco-Runner with legal advice and knowledge about patents. Whereas in other innovations secrecy is essential, in this project it is different. After all, the students also want to unlock knowledge that other parties can use to advance the development of the hydrogen car. So we are mainly helping the team with our knowledge about patents on other inventions. So that whatever the Eco-Runner Team Delft develops does not infringe on other patents. But we also think along with them about the future. For example, in recording their ideas in legal documents. This allows them to lay a foundation on which the next team can build.
Read more about the ambitions of Eco-Runner Team Delft in the Client Case.