NZ school enters Hydrogen Grand Prix

The international Hydrogen Grand Prix programme for school students has reached New Zealand for the first time this year. 

Developed and promoted by Horizon Educational, the programme involves students building and racing remote controlled model cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.  

The Hydrogen Grand Prix is the largest hydrogen competition in the world and has entrants from all over the globe.  

School teams enter the programme which offers three category levels of age/competency. 

Unfortunately, Horizon Educational wasn’t able to secure sufficient major sponsorship to set up the full programme in New Zealand this year, but The Gas Hub/Powerco has agreed to sponsor one school this year as a pilot programme ahead of launching the full programme next year. 

The Gas Hub will be working with Freyberg High School in Palmerston North as the pilot school. 

The Freyberg team of seven students will work through the educational programme to build the car and then will go to the world champs in California in September as a wildcard entry.  

 Andre Jacobs from Freyberg High School says they’re incredibly grateful to The Gas Hub for providing the funds to purchase the hydrogen car kit.  

 It helps spark an interest in STEM subjects with their students, he says.  

 They’re now looking for local businesses to support our school team to attend the finals in Anaheim, California, from September 9 to 14.  

 The school will be doing their own fundraising to get the team over to California but are also keen to secure additional sponsors. 

“It’s a large cost for us – we need to fundraise between $30,000 to $35,000 to get the team, which includes seven students and two teachers, to the event,” Jacobs says. 

 The New Zealand Hydrogen Council is one of the first to come onboard to support the travel fundraising effort.  

 Powerco General Manager Gas Don Elers says the company is excited to provide the model hydrogen car so that Freyberg students can learn valuable science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in a real-world setting.  

 “We believe it’s important to support STEM initiatives in our communities, to inspire young people to become scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians in the future.” 

 It challenges future innovators to problem solve, design and manufacture in a creative way to help tackle tomorrow’s energy challenges, he says.  

 “The gas and electricity industries will need this expertise in the coming years, and this is our way of helping nurture young minds into following STEM and perhaps eventually making a career out of it.”  

 The World Final in California will see the 40 best student-led teams qualify from a programme that has recently expanded to over 4,000 students and hundreds of schools.  

For more information on the programme, visit the Hydrogen Grand Prix site.