Press Release

Young hydrogen pioneer from HAN wins ACE Mobility Student Award 2025

Eindhoven, July 10, 2025 - Tim Vianen, Mechanical Engineering student at the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN), has been named the winner of the ACE Mobility Student Award 2025. The award was presented on Tuesday, July 8, at Fontys Nexus in Eindhoven. With his innovative contribution to reducing hydrogen losses at hydrogen filling stations and his efforts to involve young people in the energy transition, he managed to convince the jury.

Technical innovation with social impact

During his internship at Daimler Truck AG in Stuttgart, Tim focused on improving liquid-hydrogen refueling stations. He developed a solution to the so-called boil-off effect, where hydrogen is lost through evaporation during storage and refueling processes, an inefficient and costly problem within the hydrogen infrastructure. “My contribution was to develop a solution that reduces this loss,” Tim says, “In addition, I used artificial intelligence to optimize the design process and integrated AI into the team's daily work environment.” The project was both technically challenging and enriching: "I really stepped into a completely new world. Liquid hydrogen was largely new to me, and the working language in the office, German, also took some switching. But precisely the speed at which the hydrogen world is developing made the project super instructive and motivating."

Connecting young people to hydrogen

In addition to his technical work, Tim stood out for his community involvement. As founder of Jong-NWBA, the youth branch of the Dutch Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, he is committed to getting students and young professionals actively involved in the industry.

“Many young people are interested in the energy transition, but don't really know how to really connect with the hydrogen world,” he explains. "With Young NWBA, we wanted to narrow that gap. We are building a community where young people inspire each other, and learn about the practice through events and networking. We must realize the energy transition together, and the younger generation plays a key role in this."

Indispensable for the future of mobility

The jury, consisting of Margriet van Schijndel (Program Director Responsible Mobility at TU/e), Rob van Veldhuizen (advisor energy transition at Stantec) and Geert Brummelhuis (branch manager Automotive Retail at BOVAG), praised Tim's combination of technical depth, vision and social commitment. Each year, ACE Mobility puts together an expert jury with different areas of expertise for the Student Award.

Innovations on their technical value and social impact

Saskia Lavoo, general manager of ACE Mobility, endorses this: "With this award we show that students do not only make a difference at the end of their studies, but are of great value to the mobility sector right from the start. Tim shows how technical innovation and social commitment come together in one powerful story. Such talents are indispensable for the future of mobility."

Promising talent with diverse perspectives

Besides Tim, five other nominees presented impressive projects:

Emma Vanstraelen (HAN) developed an innovative control strategy for active dampers at JRZ Suspensions.

Jeroen Kamminga (Fontys) investigated risks in hydrogen engines and designed a digital twin solution for ECU control.

George Ioan Biro (Fontys) transformed an internal combustion engine setup into a smart test environment for electric vehicles.

David Onvlee (HAN) designed a system that allows autonomous vehicles to communicate clearly with pedestrians.

Santiago Sanchez (HAN) has been building his own hypercar since the age of 14 and presented a working prototype.

Each project showed how students, from their own background and year of study, are actively contributing to the mobility of the future.

About the ACE Mobility Student Award

The ACE Mobility Student Award is an annual award for students of HAN and Fontys who make a pioneering contribution to the mobility sector. This may be an internship assignment, a research project, a product or vehicle they have devised themselves, or a social initiative. The ACE Mobility Student Award shows how young talent is already playing a role in tomorrow's mobility.

More information or interview requests:

Via Gentiana Tijssen - g.tijssen@acemobility.nl

Boilerplate:

ACE Mobility is the Automotive Center of Expertise of the Fontys and HAN universities of applied sciences. Together with companies, governments and knowledge institutions, ACE Mobility works on innovation and talent development in the automotive and mobility sector. Through practice-oriented research, educational innovation and networking, ACE Mobility connects the world of tomorrow with the talent of today.