HAN Hydromotive

The challange for HAN Hydromotive

In the UrbanConcept class of the Shell Eco-marathon, HAN Hydromotive develops the city car of the future, which is legal to drive in public space. This involves a number of engineering challenges including the use of a windshield wiper, lighting and several safety precautions. The body is obliged to protect all elements in the vehicle. Wheel boxes are a requirement and there must be a permanent roof on the vehicle and 4 wheels. Furthermore, the car must meet a standard baggage requirement. For example, a laptop needs to be easily taken.

Next to the car requirements, of course there is the pressure of time as well. Whit the race coming in closer every day, they needed to execute a lot of ideas to find the best solutions.

Solution for the HAN Hydromotive

This is where the Tractus3D industrial 3D printer comes in. With the 3D printer, the students of the HAN Hydromotive team can prototype faster and easier. They can alter their design, print it and test it, till they have the perfect 3D printed vehicle parts. All whitin their own garage.

“The car is mainly improved on simplicity, especially because we can adjust parts to our own preferences. For example, we have placed the live data display for the driver at the most ideal location. In this case, we do not have to spend a long time searching for braces or other less handy solutions.”

Hein Lucassen, HAN Hydromotive

Thanks to 3D printing the automotive team is able to see if a certain prototype part fits, for example the calipers and the steering wheel, before sending the design to a manufacturer. It’s useful to 3D print products to test and check if it fits, making sure the design is good. This way they reduce production time and failure rate as they eliminate the chance of ordering a mis fitting product at an external company.

Additive manufacturing is also cheaper and lighter than, for example, the same type of process when working on steel. The Arval Inspire II vehicle was developed in 3D and completely built from composites. During the first construction in 2015, a number of objectives were taken into account. One of those aims was to make the Arval Inspire II street legal. With a consumption of 1: 510 km / l the team has proven that it is possible to produce an extremely economical car for the Dutch roads.

“The weight of the vehicle has been decreased through the 3D printing technology. Compared to the car of 2015, we have reduced the weight by 40%. As a result the vehicle is more efficient and can travel a longer distance, using less fuel”

Hein Lucassen, HAN Hydromotive

Achievements

Consumption of 1 :570 km/l

In 2016 HAN Hydromotive introduced their third vehicle, the ABN AMRO Lease Accelerator. The goal with this vehicle is to win the Shell Eco-marathon. In the first year they achieved a consumption of 1: 570 km / l. The team contains 15 students which work hard to improve and further develop the vehicle. According to Kevin Bonke, Team Manager, they have made a light and aerodynamic vehicle that contains many new technologies.

New efficiency record

The goal of the Shell Eco-marathon is to cover an x number of meters within a specified time and use as little energy as possible. As described, last year an admirable result was achieved of 570 kilometers per liter. This was a personal record for HAN Hydromotive. In 2018, the team was aiming for an even better result, 700+ km on 1 liter of fuel. Unfortunately, due to mechanical problems they did not succeed to complete the marathon.