A team of UND students Wednesday got the final piece needed to build a fuel cell-powered race car that soon could be the talk of the college alternative energy world.

Toronto-based Hydrogenics Corp. and John Deere are donating a $150,000, 12-kilowatt fuel-cell stack to UND's Society for Energy Alternatives to put in "Subzero IV H2," the team's new car. The 3-foot by 1-foot by 1-foot rectangular apparatus produces electricity that will power the vehicle.

The 30-member team, made up of students of several different majors, including accounting and marketing, hope to get the fuel cell running, connect it to the race car's chassis and put on the finishing touches before an official rollout in April.

"All that remains for us is to do it," said John Watson, dean of UND's College of Engineering and Mines, where the work will be headquartered.

Solar cars on hold

The fuel cell stack was handed over to the students during a news conference attended by UND officials, representatives of Hydrogenics and John Deere, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a proponent of hydrogen fuel cell research.

UND's new fuel cell stack is a proton exchange membrane that weighs about the same as a combustion engine and could easily fit in the trunk of a car. Its operating temperature also is about the same as a typical car's engine.

The fuel cell produces electricity without burning traditional fossil fuels.

Josh Howland, president of the UND team, said the new race car will be the school's latest foray into alternative energy powered vehicles. Three previous race cars built by UND students - Subzero I, Subzero II and Subzero III - weere powered by solar cells.

"They came to me out of the blue and said they no longer just wanted to build solar cars," Watson said. "They felt the future was in fuel cells."

Pioneers

Howland said the UND team plans to run the new car in the North American Solar Challenge in July as an exhibition car. Organizers of the race that will run 2,000 miles from Austin, Texas, to Calgary, Alta., want to use UND's car as a model to set rules for a new fuel-cell race class in the future.

"We are pioneering this," Howland said.

The 2005 solar challenge mostly will follow U.S. Highway 75 and Canadian Highway 1 to the finish line. A race checkpoint, or overnight pit stop, will be set up in Fargo.

Cheryl Osowski, an engineering school spokeswoman, said that UND had hoped to get the checkpoint in Grand Forks, but race organizers said more spacing was needed for cars to spread out before they hit the U.S.-Canadian border crossing.

North Dakota State University has its own solar-powered car and will compete in the race.

Hydrogenics and John Deere have been working for the past three years to create new applications for hydrogen fuel cells.

Gary Brandt, chief financial officer for Hydrogenics, made a pitch to UND officials to use one of its 10 new hydrogen-powered ice resurfacers that the company is developing with the Canadian company Olympia for use in ice rinks around the world.

He said that Ralph Engelstad Arena would be a perfect setting for just such a vehicle.