"World-class and a figurehead for the entire region"

As part of a thank-you and information event on 30 June at Campus Senftenberg, Alexander Erbert, Head of Health, Youth and Social Affairs for the district of Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Andreas Pfeiffer, Mayor of the town of Senftenberg, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Hübner, Vice President for Research and Transfer at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, also paid tribute to the team's special achievements.

"You are world-class and a figurehead for the entire region," emphasised department head Alexander Erbert in the Konrad Zuse Media Centre. Mayor Andreas Pfeiffer emphasised in particular the 16 years of commitment to this innovative university project and the interdisciplinary nature of the ever-changing student teams.

BTU Vice President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Hübner thanked the Lausitz Dynamics team, led by module manager Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sylvio Simon, for their great commitment and expressed his utmost respect for their achievements. He thanked the sponsors and emphasised the importance of teamwork for the personal development of the participants.

He presented the highly committed students with certificates signed by the President of BTU Prof. Dr Gesine Grande. The students were also delighted to receive a joint thank-you from the district of Oberspreewald-Lausitz and the town of Senftenberg: a barbecue package from the Domin farm shop in Peickwitz. In his capacity as board chairperson of the Institute for Environmental Technology and Recycling Senftenberg e.V., Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sylvio Simon presented each of the students with a small gift in the form of a voucher.

Prior to this, the technical supervisor of the Lausitz Dynamics team, Sindy Schmidt, gave a presentation about the project and the exciting competition and thanked all supporters.

The team would like to thank the city of Senftenberg, DEKRA Lausitzring, Sparkasse Niederlausitz, LEAG Konferenzcenter, Lausitzer Wasser GmbH, REWE Familie Radke, Plottbaer Werbetechnik, Institut für Umwelttechnik und Recycling Senftenberg e.V. and the BTU student council.

The Lausitz Dynamics team was first formed on the initiative of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Biegel in 2009, when the Shell Eco-marathon was held at the Lausitzring. With its self-designed HydraGen energy-saving vehicle, the current BTU student team was able to secure the title of Vice-Champion Europe and Africa 2025 in the Prototype Hydrogen category at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe and Africa, which was held in neighbouring Poland from 10 to 15 June 2025, just behind the team from Stralsund University of Applied Sciences and, after the best of three very good races, even took the lead in the field of 15 teams in its vehicle category. In comparison with the results of the Shell Eco-marathon competitions in America and Asia, the two German university teams are also at the top of the overall standings worldwide.

"I am very proud of our students, who worked very well together," said Sindy Schmidt.

The outstanding performance of 964.3 kilometres was achieved with one cubic metre of hydrogen. Converted to petrol, that would be around 2,890 kilometres with the consumption of one litre. The aim of the competition is not to drive as fast as possible, but as energy-efficiently as possible. After competing in the battery class in previous years, the BTU team used a fuel cell in its HydraGen vehicle to generate electrical energy from hydrogen and oxygen from the air for the first time.

Interdisciplinary cooperation
In the Lausitz Dynamics team, 17 studentswere highly committed to successfully participating in the competition as part of the "Energy-efficient vehicles" moduleof the co-op programme. In addition to the driver Thi Ha An Le from the Nursing Science study programme, the team consists mainly of students from the Electrical Engineering co-op programme and a prospective Mechanical Engineering student. The student team manager is Theo Beutke, a dual Bachelor's student of Electrical Engineering. At the BTU Senftenberg site, the students work together on an interdisciplinary basis under the supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sylvio Simon and the professional guidance of staff members Sindy Schmidt and Shadi Sykora.

Further information:
https://www.b-tu.de/news/artikel/29182-btu-team-lausitz-dynamics-energieeffizient-bei-internationalem-wettbewerb

https://www.b-tu.de/lausitz-dynamics