Posted on April 15, 2007  Comments (4)

Most miles, least fuel wins

Photo from Shell Eco-Marathon Americas site (see more photos, results, webcasts…).

Related: La Vida Robot – Student Algae Bio-fuel Project – NASA Engineering Challenges – International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition

From the Shell Press Release:
Students from the across the U.S. and Canada competed today at the first Shell Eco-marathon(TM) Americas. Shell challenged the engineering students to drive their vehicles the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel, either conventional or alternative. While all of the teams accomplished impressive fuel economy figures, team Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won the challenge with an astonishing 1902.7 miles per gallon.

“It’s important to be involved in programs like the Shell Eco-marathon to make people aware of what we can achieve in future transportation,” said Mechanical Engineering major Tom Heckel, team manager for Cal Poly’s Super Mileage team. “I hope teams like ours will help shape the vehicles people drive years from now and those vehicles will be more environmentally friendly.”

The following is the student team results from today’s event:

Grand Prize
Cal Poly Team (San Luis Obispo, CA) at 1902.7 miles per gallon

Combustion Engine Group
1st place: Cal Poly Team (San Luis Obispo, CA) at 1902.7 miles per gallon
2nd place: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN) at
1637.2 miles per gallon
3rd place: Mater Dei High School (Evansville, IN) at 1596 miles per
gallon

Hydrogen Group
1st place: Los Altos Academy of Engineering (Hacienda Heights, CA) at
1038 miles per gallon

“The Shell Eco-marathon is intended to inspire these students — the engineers and scientists of the future — to help us provide mobility that is cleaner, safer, more efficient and more affordable then ever before,” said David Sexton, president of Shell Oil Products U.S. “The innovative ideas and the exchange of information taking place at the Shell Eco-marathon demonstrate the approach necessary to address today’s energy challenges. There’s not one answer; we must have a broad spectrum of economically, socially and environmentally viable energy solutions to meet the future’s mobility demands.”

After more than 20 successful years in Europe and the United Kingdom, the world-renowned Shell Eco-marathon(TM) made its debut in the United States as the Shell Eco-marathon(TM) Americas. From vehicle design to financing, student participants gain hands-on experience managing their project and applying skills in science, technology, mathematics, business and design. Throughout the project, they demonstrate hard work, creativity and ingenuity, while addressing one of the most pressing issues in today’s society: sustainable mobility.

Teams were comprised of about eight students working together to build prototype vehicles with three or four wheels using conventional fuels or alternative fuels or energy sources such as liquid petroleum gas, biofuels, compressed natural gas, hydrogen or solar. The Shell Eco-marathon(TM) Americas challenge today brought eighteen conventional fuel-powered entries, one hydrogen-powered entry and one solar-powered entry.

The 2007 European Shell Eco-marathon(TM) event is set to take place at the Nogaro Racing Circuit in the South of France on May 11-13, 2007. With more than 250 teams from educational institutions in 20 different countries, this year’s event is set to be the biggest ever. The teams are not only competing to break the European Shell Eco-marathon(TM) fuel efficiency record, but also competing for a host of coveted other awards in various categories — from best Urban Concept vehicle (designed for normal road car use), to the most eco-friendly vehicle with the lowest emissions, best technical innovation, most impressive design and most effective communications campaign.