Visit our project wiki page here.
When we stepped into CHEMMAT 304: The Future of Energy, we quickly realised we were taking on far more than a standard university project. The course encouraged us to think boldly about Aotearoa’s energy future while helping us develop the multidisciplinary and transferable skills that engineers rely on throughout their careers (such as future focus, idea generation and persistence).
Our brief sounded simple at first: Design a mass transit solution powered by renewable energy to grow your Future Focus skill. But we wanted our project to matter, so we set our sights on one of New Zealand’s most iconic journeys, the Interislander ferry. Its straightforward point to point route made it a practical candidate for hydrogen adoption, and its visibility meant that thousands of travellers could encounter clean energy technology through an experience they already recognised. If hydrogen could succeed on the Cook Strait crossing, we believed it could inspire confidence for wider adoption across the country.
Throughout the semester, we worked across several parallel tasks: technical research, system design, energy modelling, and hands on construction. These efforts came together in a detailed project wiki, which documents our full investigation into hydrogen ferry systems. We encourage readers to explore the wiki, because it represents one of the most substantial outcomes of our project and captures the depth of our research beyond what we could present in class.
Turning months of work into a 10-minute presentation pushed us to communicate clearly and with purpose. We learned to explain complex ideas in accessible ways, balance ambition with feasibility, and imagine how hydrogen technology could reshape New Zealand’s transport networks.
Our peers responded strongly to the story we told and the model we built. We were honoured to win the CHEMMAT 304 People’s Choice Award, a recognition of both our concept and the enthusiasm we brought to the project. The experience showed us how clean energy could become a familiar and inspiring part of Aotearoa’s transport future.
Wiki page: https://sites.google.com/aucklanduni.ac.nz/hydrogen-ferries/project-theme?authuser=0