Eindhoven University of Technology students unveil first bus system powered by formic acid

August 9, 2017 |

In the Netherlands, Team FAST, a student team from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), unveiled the design of the world’s first system that allows a bus to drive on formic acid. Their self-built system comprises an electric bus that is hooked up to a small trailer –which the students have christened ‘REX’ –in which formic acid is converted into electricity. The benefits of using formic acid are that it is sustainable, CO2-neutral, safe and liquid.

Hydrozine is the energy carrier’s official name. It’s 99% formic acid with a performance enhancing agent. What is striking is that Team FAST, consisting of 35 students, developed this so-far unknown fuel all by itself. At the beginning of 2016 they presented an initial scale model that illustrated how it works. After another twenty months of hard work, they now have a system that is 42,000 times stronger and is capable of 25kW power.

Category: Fuels

Thank you for visting the Digest.