The goal of the Shell Eco-marathon is to complete a distance of about 25 kilo-metres with a minimum average speed of 30 kph using the least possible amount of fuel. PAC-Car II is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Its energy con-sumption, as calculated in terms of gasoline, amounted to a sensational one litre per 3836 kilometres. This result earned PAC-Car II the first place!
The PAC Car II Project

PAC-Car II is a student project of ETH Zurich. More than 20 students worked on the project, most of them from the department of mechanical and process engi-neering. The main sponsor is the Swiss Federal Office for Energy (BfE). Project partners are the Paul Scherrer Institute and the industrial companies ESORO, RUAG and Tribecraft.

A general movement toward fuel cell development was apparent at the Shell Eco-marathon. Six of the 200 vehicles entered this year used fuel cells, up from one two years ago and three in 2004. Hydrogen entries from the Universite de Liege in Belgium ranked 8th in its second year of prototype competition with 2,136 km/l, The team from ESSTIN in France placed 10th in its first fuel cell year, VSB – Technicka University of the Czech Republic achieved 946 km/l, and the novice Technical University of Denmark team won the Urban Concept class for four-wheeled, upright vehicles with 671 km/l, more than double last year’s mark set by a gasoline entry.