High school students compete in Midwest’s first hydrogen-powered grand prix: ‘Problem-solving is our favorite’

The gymnasium at Charles A. Prosser Career Academy in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood was busy with activity as students ran around fixing, tuning and making final adjustments in preparation for the start of the race.

Finally, six small cars were placed on a miniature track. After one bumpy and collision-filled formation lap, the two-hour endurance race began.

The top six high school and middle school teams in the Midwest were racing hydrogen-powered, remote-controlled cars Saturday in the inaugural Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix Midwest race. Hailing from Illinois, Missouri and Michigan, the students built their own cars and were competing in an endurance race to see whose car could log the most laps.

“We’ve had ups and downs from the day we came for the practice race until now,” said David Bandera, 18, a member of Prosser’s home team. “But we resolved everything. We just like being able to use our hands and build things.”

As the cars and drivers settled into a comfortable rhythm, team engineers monitored pace and lap times, pulling cars out for a pit stop if a piece fell off or the vehicle flipped over. After the first hour of racing, Prosser was pulling away with a strong lead with 173 laps, followed by Morris Community High School with 118 laps and North Park’s Von Steuben Metropolitan High School with 86 laps.

Hosted by Horizon Educational, in partnership with the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, the race was the first of its kind in this region. Horizon and the technology coalition also partnered with the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, known as MachH2, for the race. MachH2 is a coalition dedicated to clean energy and one of 33 groups vying for a bid to obtain up to $1.25 billion in federal funding to build a regional clean hydrogen hub.

“Part of the goal of the hydrogen hub is to spur workforce development and jobs creation in the region in the clean energy economy,” said Colleen Wright, vice president of corporate strategy at energy company Constellation, a member of MachH2. “There’s a whole real-time teamwork component of this as well, which is a really strong wraparound skill to the STEM education that drives the creation and the modification of the vehicles in the race.”

Today, 95% of the hydrogen used in the United States is made using fossil fuels in energy-intensive processes that emit high levels of carbon dioxide. But electricity can be used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules in a process that does not produce carbon emissions. When the electricity that is used comes from wind, solar or nuclear power, the resulting hydrogen is considered to have near-zero carbon emissions.

Clean hydrogen can be used to help decarbonize industries such as steelmaking, heavy-duty transportation and aviation, experts say.

Based in the Czech Republic, Horizon has been running hydrogen-fueled, remote-controlled car races in 25 countries for the past six years, according to Ben Giordano, a team member at Horizon. MachH2 partners, such as Constellation, join events like the Grand Prix to foster students’ interests in STEM, engineering and clean energy.

With Horizon’s global scope, organizations such as the technology coalition promote community partnerships, according to Becky Goldberg, the coalition’s director of education.

“We’re able to be on the ground, offer assistance, support teachers, support communities in the Midwest,” Goldberg said. “The programs we run in our typical programming are all about exposure and access for STEM education.”

In the last 15 minutes of the race, Prosser increased its lead to more than 100 laps ahead of second-place contender Morris. Prosser went on to win with 293 laps, including the fastest lap time of 9.1 seconds in lap 39.

“We all enjoy fixing the problems because then we get to add new features to the car and enhance it,” said Prosser team member Danny Roman. “Problem-solving is our favorite.”

Constructed over the course of a six-month educational program, each car brought a unique strategy to the table. But only five of the six teams were able to start the race as members of the Plum Grove Hydrojets, from Rolling Meadows, were plagued by technical difficulties from the beginning.

“The stuff that we learn in class ends up being really applicable to the race,” said 18-year-old Alexander Pascual, a Morris team member. “In cities you get worse mileage. That really ties into the need to accelerate and decelerate over and over. That’s a concept that we actually use and apply to our driving style.”

“I like the competitive environment here,” agreed teammate Sebastian Rodriguez, 16. “Building the car ourselves helped with our team experience; we kind of bonded a little bit better.”

As the race was nearing the end, Plum Grove Junior High’s Doorknobs team, one of three teams representing Plum Grove, passed Von Steuben to make it into the top three, finishing with 152 laps. Morris finished in second place with 167 laps.

The Prosser team will compete in the world final in Las Vegas in September, a competition representing roughly 20 different countries. After the success of Saturday’s race, organizers hope to hold additional events in the Midwest.

The Prosser team celebrated its win by bringing the car back out for a few victory doughnuts on the track. Members of the six-student team smiled wide as the small, blue car spun in tight circles on the narrow course.

“We’re definitely going to Vegas,” driver Roberto Rodriguez said.