We are a student team in Eindhoven building clean marine technologies. Combining hydrogen fuel cells and innovative propulsion to inspire a sustainable future on the water.
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Founded in 2025 at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Team Flow aims to compete in the 2027 Monaco Boat Challenge — Energy Class. All teams receive a standardized catamaran hull; the challenge is to race emission-free.
We've chosen hydrogen fuel cells to power our boat. By turning hydrogen into electricity, we show that clean energy can drive the future of maritime transport.
The hydrogen fuel cell team is developing a model with accurate electro-chemical relations and an energy management system. In our configuration, a battery powers the boat while the fuel cell continuously re-charges it to keep state-of-charge constant.
The team started from nothing in 2025. Rather than jump straight at a full-size raceboat, we're proving every part of the powertrain at small scale first, then scaling what works.
A working fuel cell rig on the bench: flow controllers, valves and cooling, instrumented so we can measure what the stack actually does instead of trusting the datasheet.
The same architecture in miniature — fuel cell charging a battery that drives an electric outboard — so the energy management strategy gets tested on the water rather than only in simulation.
Finishing the last runs on the demonstrator and turning the results into sizing numbers: how much stack, how much battery, and how hard we can push before the balance of plant becomes the limit.
Scaling the powertrain to the standardized catamaran hull, with the packaging, safety case and hydrogen storage that come with a full-size system.
Racing the Energy Class, emission-free.
Emerald
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Team Flow is a student team at Eindhoven University of Technology, founded in 2025 to compete in the Energy Class of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.
Every team in the Energy Class starts from the same standardized catamaran hull. Nothing about the boat itself gives anyone an advantage, so the race is decided entirely by what you put inside it: the energy source, the powertrain, and how efficiently you use every joule you carry.
That constraint is why the competition is interesting. It turns a race into an engineering argument about which clean technologies actually work on the water.
We convert hydrogen into electricity on board. A battery drives the boat and the fuel cell recharges it continuously, holding the state of charge roughly constant instead of draining across the race. The only thing leaving the system is water.
Our subteam works on the mechanical and thermodynamic systems that allow the hydrogen fuel cell to operate safely, reliably, and within its required conditions. Although the electrochemical reaction happens inside the stack, our work focuses on the engineering around it: pressure control, airflow, cooling, fluid routing, purge timing, sensor integration, testing, and safety.
We are responsible for the anode system, which manages hydrogen supply, pressure regulation, and purge control; the cathode system, which delivers the required air flow and handles the exhaust; and the thermal management system, which removes waste heat and keeps the stack within its operating temperature range.
Following the engineering design cycle, we research the stack requirements, define constraints, develop concepts, select components, build test setups, validate performance, and improve the system through iteration. Our work combines fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, control logic, instrumentation, and practical testing to create a system that can support stable fuel cell operation on the boat.
The propulsion subteam works on everything that moves the boat: the motor, the battery, and the connections between them. Their job is getting as much of the stored energy as possible into the water as thrust, and doing it reliably across a full race.
That means choosing and sizing the motor and battery so they suit each other and the hull, working out how power flows from the battery to the motor under different loads, and testing it all on the water. The small-scale demonstrator, built around an electric outboard, is where those choices get proven before they're scaled up to the full-size boat.
The control systems subteam make sure the logic and functioning of the boat is of the highest quality it can possibly be, while also working on optimizing the boat in order to improve speed and efficiency when racing.
In practice that means deciding what the boat should do with the power it has at any given moment: how the fuel cell and battery share the load, how the throttle responds to the pilot, and how the system behaves when conditions change mid-race. Those decisions are written as control logic and tuned against real data rather than assumptions.
The power electronics subteam work with the wiring of the whole boat and find ways to make power efficient connections in order to make the boat as reliable and efficient as possible.
The business side keeps the campaign funded: finding and approaching sponsors, applying for grants, and looking after the partners already backing the team. Every component on the boat has to be paid for or donated, so this is what makes the engineering possible.
PR handles how the team looks and sounds to everyone outside it: the visual identity, team clothing, photos and video, and the Instagram account. The job is turning what happens in the workshop into something people outside TU/e enjoy following.
The Structure subteam designs and builds everything mounted onto the boat's hull: the frame, enclosures, cockpit, and mounting systems that hold the whole boat together and keep the pilot safe. It's organized into four divisions.
Hull Integration connects systems to the competition-supplied hull and beam structure. Enclosures & Mounting builds waterproof, quick-release housings and mounts for batteries, electronics, and hydrogen components. Cockpit Design shapes the pilot's compartment for safety, comfort, and quick evacuation. Systems Integration makes sure everything from other subteams fits and works together on the boat.
All designs follow the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge's technical regulations and are reviewed by the competition's Design Jury before the race.
We take students from across the university, not only from mechanical engineering. If you want to spend a year building something that actually gets in the water, the fastest route in is to email us and say which part of the boat interests you.
Questions about the boat, sponsorship, or joining the team — all of it lands in the same inbox.
Fill out the application form. It loads from Google Forms and works on desktop and mobile.
Eindhoven University of Technology
TU/e Campus, Het Kranenveld
5612 AZ Eindhoven, Netherlands
We're looking for partners for the 2027 campaign, from component suppliers to name sponsors. Tell us what you make and we'll tell you where it fits on the boat.