Prague students take innovative hydrogen-powered car to Las Vegas

A group of students from Prague British International School (PBIS) will embark this Saturday on an exciting journey to Las Vegas, U.S., to take part in the highly prestigious Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) World Final, where they will present their very own hydrogen-powered car in an endurance race. These five students, all from Year 13, have displayed exceptional skills by conceptualizing, engineering, and constructing a clean energy vehicle from scratch in a brief span of just five months.

Their innovative creation relies on a hydrogen cell to charge a conventional battery, propelling their car forward with sustainable energy. The ultimate test for their 1:10 scale car model will be a grueling endurance race spanning six hours, where they will face off against students hailing from 20 countries.

Prepared to face the high-stress environment reminiscent of a Formula 1 pit crew, the PBIS Hydro team is composed of both pilots and mechanics, each contributing their unique expertise. While the pilots will be responsible for driving the car, the mechanics will be poised to provide rapid solutions during the race, ensuring peak performance.

Jacek Chmiel, a 17-year-old student who brought together the PBIS Hydro team, elaborates on their journey, calling the last five months "an unforgettable experience" that allowed them to "acquire a multitude of practical skills, solving complex engineering challenges along the way." The challenges, Chmiel added, included "devising effective cooling systems, optimizing weight distribution, and making critical decisions regarding two or four-wheel drive configurations," plus "the intricacies of chassis and body design for the car."

These engineering hurdles were tackled head-on in PBIS's dedicated STEAM Room in Prague, serving as a testament to the impressive talent pool within the PBIS student body. Vendula Kobzová, Head of the Faculty of Experimental Sciences at PBIS, emphasizes the real-world significance of this endeavor, which she calls more than "an exercise within the confines of a classroom," and "an opportunity to address a genuine global issue in an astonishingly short time frame." The PBIS students, Kobzová says, "are now equipped to be the problem solvers of tomorrow, venturing into the automotive industry and championing the cause of clean energy sources."