Updated 04/03/2009 06:27 AM
C-NS students build hydrogen fuel cell car
CICERO, N.Y. -- Last year, students at Cicero-North Syracuse High School built a car that runs on electricity. This year, they upped the ante with hydrogen fuel.
"If we can show how hydrogen can be used to produce clean electricity, that gives us the ability to get rid of fossil fuels or release our dependence on fossil fuels," said Performance Engineering Club adviser Martin Miner.
Engineering Club students and Carrier engineers formed a team to work on the hydrogen fuel cell project. Students say they were thrilled for the opportunity.
"It's just an awesome piece of technology, the way it works and the physics behind it. I'm a science major, science and engineering, and I enjoy physics and chemistry. And this is a great embodiment of it," said Engineering Club member Kevin Thyne.
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Students say they put a lot of time and research into the car.
"It was different. It was a lot of work and a lot of experiments and testing things," said Engineering Club member Nick Pietricola.
Before the team knew it, the car was a reality.
"There it is. All of this work is, oh, it's right there," Thyne said.
And, as the team learned during a test drive Thursday, it works, too!
"It rides good, smooth," Pietricola said.
"It's really good. It works. It's safe," Thyne said.
Now that the hydrogen fuel car is up and running, the guys are taking it on the road--literally. They're going to California in a couple of weeks to race the car in a competition, as one of only two high schools in the country to use such technology.
"It is kind of intimidating. Because we are a high school and this is our first time out. We don't know what to expect," Thyne said.
"I hope we win, but I just want to get there and finish the race," Pietricola said.
The students say they already have a head start in other ways, having had hands-on engineering experience early in their studies and being at the cutting-edge of green technology.
The Cicero-North High School hydrogen fuel car team will compete in the Shell Ecomarathon Americas April 15th through the 18th in California.