“The car will work”. This was the most heard sentence in Técnico’s Great Hall on the afternoon of March 28th, at the roll-out event for the hydrogen-powered car developed by the Técnico Fuel Cell (TFC) students.
With 130kg, a shape inspired by a drop of water and only one drive wheel (for efficiency reasons), the prototype features PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell technology. The use of hydrogen as a fuel guarantees the production of clean, sustainable energy to power the vehicle’s electric motor. This way, instead of polluting fumes, pure water comes out as waste.
In a speech in which he assured that “the car will work”, the president, Rogério Colaço also recalled that “Técnico was created to help the country in its economic development, creating technology and knowledge and putting them at the service of the people”. “113 years later, student groups like the TFC are proof that Técnico continues to fulfill this mission,” he concluded.
Surrounded by an expectant crowd in the atrium of the main building and with the TFC pilot already in the driver’s seat, the orange-colored prototype was ready. With a growing eagerness that would be replaced by cheers and victorious honking seconds later, as the vehicle made its way around the entrance to the building, the phrase “the car is going to work” resounded in everyone’s mind… and then the car did.
With 130kg, a shape inspired by a drop of water and only one drive wheel (for efficiency reasons), the prototype features PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell technology. The use of hydrogen as a fuel guarantees the production of clean, sustainable energy to power the vehicle’s electric motor. This way, instead of polluting fumes, pure water comes out as waste.
In a speech in which he assured that “the car will work”, the president, Rogério Colaço also recalled that “Técnico was created to help the country in its economic development, creating technology and knowledge and putting them at the service of the people”. “113 years later, student groups like the TFC are proof that Técnico continues to fulfill this mission,” he concluded.
Surrounded by an expectant crowd in the atrium of the main building and with the TFC pilot already in the driver’s seat, the orange-colored prototype was ready. With a growing eagerness that would be replaced by cheers and victorious honking seconds later, as the vehicle made its way around the entrance to the building, the phrase “the car is going to work” resounded in everyone’s mind… and then the car did.
