Fuelling the Future – Meet the Expert Behind HORIBA MIRA’s Latest Training Course

After completing his automotive engineering masters at Cranfield University, Adam joined HORIBA MIRA as a graduate engineer in 2018, successfully seeing through his placements in components and emissions, and landing a permanent role as an advanced energy research scientist in the company’s Horizon Scanning team. Here, he and the team are focused on defining and delivering innovative technologies that the automotive industry will need in the future.  Adam is also currently embarking on a part-time PhD with UCL researching high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

Meet Adam Zucconi, HORIBA MIRA’s former graduate engineer, current advanced energy research scientist and founder of the new ‘Hydrogen Fuel Cell’ training course launched this year at the MIRA Technology Institute.

Alongside his day job, and in little under a year, Adam has founded and developed HORIBA MIRA’s latest training course – ‘Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Their Applications’ – a course which, for the first time, covers the basics of how fuel cells work plus the types of technology and their potential as an energy conversion device in a low-carbon economy.

Adam said,

“After about four to five months into my role in the Horizon Scanning team, it became evident that there was a huge amount of research and information available about hydrogen fuel cells, but a lack of accessible training courses to provide people with a well-rounded overview of their function and applications.

“We’ve seen over the last decade vehicle manufacturers recognising the need to protect the environment and responding to this by developing new, clean, powertrain technologies. Hydrogen fuel cell applications have been successfully deployed in buses, medium-sized cars, and material handling and heavy weight vehicles, and interest in their application is growing, with fuel cells set to be introduced to even more vehicle types such as vans, trains, luxury cars, ships and potentially planes. With the rise in industry, but also customer interest for us at HORIBA MIRA, it felt like the right time to be sharing our research and educating on this topic.”

The introductory course has been designed for those who have little or no prior understanding of fuel cells, with the content aiming to provide an understanding and appreciation of the role of hydrogen and fuel cells in decarbonising the economy, alongside an exploration of the production and storage of hydrogen, along with how to mitigate unwanted carbon emissions.

Adam said,

“We’ve developed this course using academic research gained through our close university links and aim to bridge the gap from research through to industry and customer application. As part of the course, we provide a case study of fuel cell technology in automotive applications which helps to provide real-world grounding of this important technology. There are no other courses that I’m aware of that offer such a holistic view on this topic.

“An EV revolution is upon us and electric vehicles are set to be mainstream on our roads in the near future. Fuel cells will play their part in this revolution, whether it’s in commercial vehicles or passenger cars, the topic is only becoming more relevant. Not only does this course provide delegates with an understanding of hydrogen as an energy vector, but also how it can be set to provide energy in the low carbon age.”

‘Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Their Applications’ is available to purchase now with the course run through the MIRA Technology Institute. To book, please visit: https://automotive-skills.com/catalog/Course/1512/hydrogen-fuel-cells-and-their-applications