TU Delft students are the first to cross the North Sea in a hydrogen boat

Students from TU Delft arrived in Ramsgate, England, late Thursday evening in a self-built hydrogen boat. They had left Breskens in Zeeland in the late morning and covered more than 160 kilometers in 12.5 hours. It is the first time a hydrogen-powered boat has crossed the North Sea.

With the 8-meter-long and 2.65-meter-wide boat, the student team set off through the rough waters of the North Sea. With a cruising speed of 40 km/h, the Hydro Motion team wanted to cover the 400 km journey in one day. The boat, with two crew members, was accompanied by a support boat. The members of the Hydro Motion Team had hoped to make the crossing to Ramsgate in around eight hours.

However, due to a faulty pump, they had to make a stopover in Zeebrugge, Belgium. As a result, valuable time was lost in the experimental journey. The students wanted to use the crossing to demonstrate the potential of clean hydrogen for maritime shipping.

In 2020, the Hydro Motion project was born, and the world’s first foiling hydrogen-powered boat was created. The students' goal is to make solar power an alternative to fossil fuels in the maritime industry.