The design

I teamed up with an automotive design student to create a closely fitting and lightweight bodywork. He sketched the proposals by hand, I worked it out in CAD. This was the first time I came in contact with other disciplines.

While we were working on the outside of the car, the majority of the Forze team was working on the hydrogen-electric powertrain. In our case, a PEM-fuel cell was the heart of our car. Here, air was being pumped in via a compressor and hydrogen was let into by a regulator. In the fuel cell, the opposite of electrolysis happens; The gasses react with eachother through a membrane and this creates electricity. A buffer from capacitors makes quick charging and discharging possible; It empties in seconds and charges fully with just a few times braking.

Compared to the Forze Formula student car of the year before, the fuel cell power output was being doubled this year. The packaging of all the extra components was the main challenge for us as bodywork designers.

Making this car made me realize I have a true thirst to create stuff. At Forze my skillset expanded quickly. I never worked with glassfiber and carbon fiber before. I had never drew a mold, even though I was studying Industrial Design Engineering. Up till this chance, my designs had never seen daylight before because they never left the concept phase; At Forze it was all for real.