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Making every drop of fuel count
The Shell Eco-marathon challenges students to build the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible. They use anything from wood and fibreglass to hemp fibres – and lots of ingenuity. Some cars run on diesel or petrol, others on alternative sources such as biofuels and solar power. Entrants must meet safety rules, but otherwise they are limited only by their imagination.
On the starting grid a lobster opens its claws and a monster smiles to reveal its teeth. Across the racetrack other brightly coloured, futuristic vehicles purr and hum. There is no revving or roaring. The aim is not to hurtle round the track, but to get the most from every drop of fuel in the tank – this is the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2009.
Nearly 190 teams of around 2,700 students and professors from 28 countries from Europe, North Africa and Asia took part in the event from May 7-9. It marked the 25th anniversary of the Shell Eco-marathon Europe and took place for the first time in Germany. The venue was the EuroSpeedway Lausitz circuit, a motorsport complex twice the size of the principality of Monaco.
Boosting fuel efficiency and cutting CO2 emissions from road transport will become increasingly vital as vehicle numbers rise. The Shell Eco-marathon inspires participants to come up with creative solutions to these challenges.
It has two categories: one race for prototype cars designed to minimise drag, and one for more conventional urban concept vehicles geared to the needs of today's drivers. In each case the vehicle that goes furthest on the least fuel wins. Other awards go to the best of each fuel and engine type. Off the track areas such as creativity, safety, design and marketing are also recognised.
This year’s prototype winners, St Joseph La Joliverie from Nantes, France, squeezed out the equivalent of 3,771 kilometres using an internal combustion engine – enough to go from Paris to Berlin over four times and setting a new Shell Eco-marathon record.
“A year’s work has paid off,” said Philippe Maindru, Professor of Thermodynamics at La Joliverie and in charge of the team. He has taken part in every Shell Eco-marathon Europe. “Technology and the use of computers to control energy have moved on. But the spirit of the event, the challenge, has remained the same.”
The urban concept winners, Norway’s Norges Tekiske og Naturitenskapelige Universitet, managed 1,246 kilometres on a hydrogen fuel cell engine. They also had the lowest C02 emissions, one of five records set this year.
The competition dates back to 1939 when Shell Oil employees in the USA made a friendly wager over who could travel the furthest on the same quantity of fuel. The winner then achieved 4.7 kilometres on one litre of fuel. In 1985 the event moved to France for the first European competition.
Teams compete, but the event also encourages participants to work together. “I think that’s the most exciting thing, to see how people are thinking and learning around the world,” said Claudia Thomas, a student at Hamburg’s University of Applied Sciences.
A parallel event, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas, runs in the USA – and next year will see the first edition of a Shell Eco-marathon Asia in Malaysia.
