Latin American innovation: Unioeste hydrogen car achieves unprecedented classification in Shell Eco-Marathon

For the first time in the history of the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas, a Latin American team has passed the demanding technical inspection of the most challenging category of the competition: Urban Concept – Hydrogen Fuel Cell. The achievement was made by the team from the Cataratas Energy Efficiency Group (GCEE), an extension project of the State University of Western Paraná (Unioeste), Foz do Iguaçu campus. The event, held in Indianapolis, United States, this month, brought together 64 high-performance technical teams from the Americas and consolidated Brazil's presence on the international radar of sustainable mobility.

Technical excellence and regional prominence in the clean mobility scenario

Participating in the hydrogen-powered vehicle category with a focus on maximum energy efficiency is, in itself, a high-level technical challenge. Among the seven teams registered in this class, only five passed the rigorous inspection – and GCEE was the only representative from Latin America among them. More than a symbolic milestone, this is a concrete step forward towards Brazil's inclusion in one of the most strategic sectors of the global energy transition.

Despite adverse weather conditions – with temperatures around 5°C, winds and rain – the vehicle developed by GCEE successfully completed four laps of the Indianapolis circuit, totaling 15.6 km. The attempt was not officially validated because it exceeded the 35-minute time limit, but the technical and operational results consolidate the maturity of the project and the competence of the team. The performance was achieved with strong institutional support: the project was sponsored by entities such as Itaipu Binacional, the Government of Paraná, Fundep, XBRI Pneus, Unila, and companies in the innovation ecosystem such as LabIoT and Altair Cycles.

The team is already working on preparations for the next edition of the competition, which will take place between August 25 and 28, 2025 at Pier Mauá, in Rio de Janeiro. With the experience accumulated in the United States and a solid base of technical and institutional support, GCEE positions itself as one of the exponents of university engineering applied to clean mobility in South America.

H2helium, maintainer of the Hydrogen Radar, is proud to be an official co-sponsor of the Cataratas Energy Efficiency Group (GCEE). Congratulations on this achievement!