How a scholar racing membership in Kerala is growing a hydrogen-fuelled buggy

Herakles Racing hydrogen-fuelled all-terrain car
| Photograph Credit score: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Among the many 22 faculty groups taking part within the third and ultimate section of the SAEIndia HBaja 2025 competitors was a bunch of rookies within the hydrogen or CNG-fuelled all-terrain car (ATV) class, Herakles Racing, from the Faculty of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) in Thiruvananthapuram. Round 190 groups registered for the seventeenth version of this prestigious contest, to construct ATVs for recreation which might perform in real-world circumstances. However many did not qualify within the first two phases held on-line. From January 9 to 12, buggies battled it out with energy, manoeuvrability, effectivity, endurance and extra on the Nationwide Automotive Check Tracks in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.

Finally, on the ultimate day, to everybody’s shock, Herakles Racing got here second in general rating. They received the perfect debutant award and likewise bagged the primary rank in validation, effectivity, and digital dynamics, second in gross sales and acceleration and third in endurance, sled pulling (pulling a tractor with the ATV), and price.

Workforce Herakles Racing at CET, Sreekaryam in Thiruvananthapuram
| Photograph Credit score:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Herakles Racing, the faculty’s official BAJA racing crew, was based by Safwan Abdul Samad, a mechanical engineering scholar, in 2017. “Safwan needed to do one thing past the lecture rooms. So, with the assistance of some of his mates, he began this membership and even attended a number of competitions,” says Gautham S Nair, supervisor of Herakles Racing.

At the moment, there are round 45 members within the crew. “Among the many members, some even get placement provides from mainstream producers like Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and so forth,” says Gautham.

“We began engaged on hydrogen-combustion autos (which burn hydrogen for gas) in 2024 with this competitors in thoughts. It took us round a yr to get from ideation to execution,” says Gautham.

Herakles Racing buggy on the SAEIndia HBaja 2025 competitors 
| Photograph Credit score:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The crew used supplies from their EBaja autos (electrical) to design the buggy. “It will usually price ₹ 8 to 9 lakh if we have been to purchase all of the elements for an ATV. However, since we recycled loads, we lower down the fee to ₹3 lakh,” says crew captain Adith Raj. This quantity was raised by the scholars.

The ATV at present makes use of 5% hydrogen and the remaining CNG, owing to the costly nature of producing hydrogen gas by electrolysis (splitting hydrogen and oxygen in water utilizing electrical energy). Additionally, there are not any hydrogen filling stations in Kerala. In actual fact, Herakles didn’t check their car with hydrogen till they reached the SAEIndia tracks. As a substitute, they used petrol because of the bi-fuel nature of their engine.

Herakles Racing makes use of a hydrogen combustion engine, which runs like another inside combustion engine utilizing fossil fuels. “We are going to enhance on this proportion of hydrogen within the coming years. We’d like a bulkier or strengthened engine for that,” says Gautham. “At the moment, the engine materials we use is aluminium or forged iron. Perhaps if we will use composite materials for the engine; will probably be extra suited to hydrogen gas,” he provides.

“Many groups use aluminium components for a number of elements and that limits the burden of the car to round 140 to 170 kilograms, serving to them carry out higher. However since we’re reusing materials, our ATV weighs round 250 kilograms. We have to discover lighter supplies for elements and higher funding to make sure that correct analysis is carried out in optimising the buggy’s efficiency,” says Gautham.

“We’re engaged on utilizing a sustainable gas supply, which might assist sooner or later. The one waste from hydrogen combustion is water,” says Rinin Krishna, vice-captain.

“Whereas ATVs are available in a unique class in comparison with passenger autos, it has functions in defence, farming, search and rescue and so forth,” says Rinin.