Huddersfield’s Team HARE goes electric with latest Formula Student car
This year’s Formula Student car designed by University of Huddersfield engineering students is an electric vehicle for the first time.
The 12-strong Team HARE has taken on board the University’s sustainability goals and decided to build an EV for the 2023-2024 round of the student contest.
A new vehicle has been designed and built on campus with four-wheel drive, a custom-built battery and a top speed of 103 km/h.
Omar Zayed, this year’s Team Principal, an Automotive and Motorsport Engineering student who has just completed his final year, explained that as well as charging the car’s battery at the Laura Annie Willson building, which sees clean energy generated on site via the solar panels on its roof, they made sure to use a number of recycled and recyclable materials to ensure its green credentials.
He said: “We designed and built a car, manufacturing it in house. Then we go on and compete against universities from around the world at Silverstone, the F1 track. We started entering the competition back in 1999, and every year we compete with a new car design and build all of it at the Uni.
“We have a number of industry partners, such as Tesla and Denso – with big companies sponsoring the team either with technical or financial support.
“This year we have switched on an electric vehicle for the first time, with the main reason being that it’s aligned with the University’s sustainability goals and lowering our carbon emissions. It also aligns with the research we are doing at the University right now as well as the automotive industry itself.”
The team members are Omar as Team Principal; Justin Perera as Technical Director; Muhammad Wada as Head of Powertrains; Ahmed Sameh as Head of Electronics; Rayan Mahmoud as Battery Team Lead; Krisztian Sasala as Head of Suspension; Joshua Gullon as Steering Team Lead; Lea Aldred as Impact Team Lead; Thomas Hampson as Aero Team Lead; Khaled Zayed as Design Engineer; Thomas Andersen as Design Engineer; and Yousif Gaylani as Electronics Engineer.
Sponsors include Metals4U, AMK, Enepaq, Denso, 3M Buckley Innovation, Bender, Tesla, Kisssoft, Eplan and David Brown Santasalo ACCU – a range of local, national and international companies.
Every year, a new Team HARE takes on the challenge of redesigning, rebuilding and upgrading the car and aiming for competition success at the Formula Student event held at Silverstone racetrack in July.
Final-year engineering students at Huddersfield must undertake a research or design project, and joining Team HARE is one of the options on offer. Although many students get involved with the Team in earlier years due to the experience it presents.
Run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the competition involves a range of tests including an endurance round, as well as sprint and acceleration rounds. But first the vehicle must pass the scrutineering process, designed to ensure that the car is safe and complies with the rules.
This year there are 63 teams involved in the competition, around half of which are EV.
The Formula Student competition aims to develop enterprising and innovative young engineers and encourage more young people to take up a career in engineering.
It is seen as a kite-mark for real-world engineering experience, combining practical engineering experience with soft skills including business planning and project management.
Team HARE has entered the Formula Student competition since 1999. Previous successes include placing 6th overall in 2019 as well as being the number three team in the UK. Meanwhile in 2013, the team placed 15th overall and were top out of the UK teams.