History of the PAC-Car project

 

The idea for making a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle designed for fuel economy races came about in January 2002.

At this time, ETH Zurich already had some experience of fuel cell systems thanks to various projects like PowerPac.

 

More information on the PowerPac project

 

The University of Valenciennes (UVHC) has competed in such races since 1994, with an ICE vehicle which they designed and manufactured themselves: "Le Hainaut".

 

PAC-Car was born... as a result of the introduction of the PowerPac fuel cell system in the Uni. Valenciennes vehicle, whose best result, 914km/l, was achieved in 1997 on the Silverstone circuit.

In 2003, the year it first participated, PAC-Car was actually the first ever hydrogen powered car involved in such a competition. It used 15.9g of hydrogen to cover 100km, which is the equivalent of 1701km/l of petrol.

 

In 2004 hydrogen was finally recognized as an official fuel like petrol, gasoline and LPG. PAC-Car finished 9th in the French SEM with 1956km/l and 3rd in the UK SEM with 2024km/l (5718mpg).

 

PAC-Car I homepage

 

2005 will be the year of PAC-Car II.

History of PAC-Car II

 

The new vehicle study started in September 2003... after a preliminary calculation which showed the development potential of PAC-Car I. The World Record seemed within reach.

The first phase of the PAC-Car II project consisted of setting up the intermediate milestones, of drawing up a budget and above all of creating a team up to the job (financial and industrial partners, students, technicians, drivers, ...).

The second phase was the one in which the main technical choices were made: car architecture, rear wheel steering, external shape, fuel cell technology, motors, ...

 

The third phase consisted of long and tedious ground work in search of the best compromises. PAC-Car I was even customized several times to validate the choices made ... because in this quest for minimal consumption, calculations are insufficient, only experimentation counts.

 

The fourth phase consisted of manufacturing and tuning the car.