A team of students from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands will try to demonstrate the power of green energy by driving a hydrogen-powered foiling boat across the English Channel from Dunkirk to England next month.
The 23-student team from Delft has designed the zero-emissions monohull, called Aurora, that takes off, or foils, at 17 mph and cruises at 24 mph. Its fuel cell has 40 kW of power, and it carries three hydrogen tanks weighing 8 pounds each. Aurora is 26’ 2” long with a beam of 8’ 6” and weighs 3,968 pounds. The struts are 6’ 7: long. It’s made of carbon fiber.
They tested a slightly smaller, 23-foot foiling monohull last year but it had some trouble offshore, with waves crashing over the bow and seawater flooding out the electronics. Aurora is both longer and wider than the first boat, with a sharper bow and longer foils.
Delft 2023 boat.
The Delft students started their Hydro Motion project in 2020 to show the viability of hydrogen-powered boats. (They had been working on solar power before then.) They won the Open Sea Class of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge in 2023.
“We are determined to compel companies and governments around the world to amend their legislation, mandating the inclusion of hydrogen-powered vessels and the development of additional infrastructure crucial for the green energy transition,” said Mick Polack, the driveline engineer for the Hydro Motion Team.
The team is now waiting for a weather window in July for the cross-Channel trip.
Read more at https://hydromotionteam.nl and see the video below:
