Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 finishes with five new mileage records in the Street Circuit Challenge

Students from South Asia, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa have conquered the streets of Luneta Park, Manila to set five new mileage records at Shell Eco-marathon Asia. Clean Diesel Team from Hyogo Prefectural Tajima Technical Institute, Japan clinched first place in the Prototype Shell FuelSave Diesel category with a new record mileage of 1,245 km/l at the street circuit, more than double last year’s winning score. Also doubling last year’s result was ITS Team 2 from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Indonesia, who recorded 153 km/l in the UrbanConcept Shell FuelSave Diesel category. For the first time, Pakistani Team Innova of PIEAS achieved the 3rd position in the Urban Concept Shell Fuelsave Gasoline category by driving 58.1 km/litre, over 42 other teams in the category. 

 “We are elated to be the first Pakistani team to achieve a position in the competition. We strived for almost a year, working day and night to ensure our vehicle met the high safety standards and specifications required at SEM Asia 2015. I think main reason behind our success is that every team member understood and played his part with commitment and diligence. I’m grateful to each one of them for supporting my decisions and for stretching themselves beyond their comfort zones,” said Ali Shahzad, team lead of Innova from PIEAS, Islamabad.

Last year, the Pakistani team from GIKI managed to secure 6th position while PNEC-NUST won the Off-track Communications Award.

Speaking of Pakistan’s progress in SEM Asia 2015, Afshan Khan, Social Investment Manager, Shell Pakistan Limited said, “This is a remarkable achievement for Pakistan and proves that resilience and persistent hard work pays off. Shell Pakistan has been working closely with our student teams to help them perform better each year, and we’ve seen an amazing increase in energy and focus with all the Pakistani teams – we applaud all the teams, especially PIEAS for coming this far and hopefully we can win a 1st position prize next year.”

Three other teams achieving new mileage records include Team LH – Gold Energy of Lac Hong University, Vietnam who won the UrbanConcept Alternative Fuel category with 164 km/l on ethanol, and Prototype Battery Electric champion Team NSTRU Eco-Racing from Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University Thailand with a mileage of 451km/kWh. Team UiTM Eco-Sprint from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam Malaysia bettered their own winning result last year to champion the Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell category again with a record mileage of 315 km/m3.

"We are very happy to be the first Vietnamese team ever to win at a Shell Eco-marathon Asia event. We are honoured to represent Vietnam and proud that we are bringing our university to a regional competition,” said Le Phuong Long, Team Leader of LH – Gold Energy from Lac Hong University, Vietnam. “The team has learned a lot and done our best to achieve the best possible fuel efficiency, and we dedicate this win to Vietnam.”

Thailand has emerged overall victor for the second year running at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia street circuit event. Apart from Team NSTRU Eco-Racing in the Prototype Battery Electric Category, the contingent won two other on-track titles including Team ATE.1 from Kong Thabbok Upatham Changkol Kho So Tho Bo School who clinched the Prototype Shell FuelSave Gasoline award with a mileage of 1,490 km/l. Team Virgin of Sakonnakhon Technical College Thailand, winner of 2014’s Prototype Shell FuelSave Gasoline category, clocked the highest mileage of the competition in a different category this year with 1,572 km on a litre of ethanol – the approximate equivalent distance between Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.

“The team wanted to challenge itself with a new type of engine this year and decided to build a new vehicle with a carbon fibre body which makes the car lighter,” said Sakonnakhon Technical College’s Team Advisor Mr. Pramuan Ronyut. “I’m very proud of the team’s performance in an international arena like this – it is a great platform for students interested in this field to compete against and learn from other country teams.”

This year’s winners bested over 120 student teams from 17 countries across Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa – including new entrants from Australia, Bangladesh, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Teams submitted vehicle entries in either the UrbanConcept or Prototype category in any of the seven different energy types. Results are measured on who can drive the furthest on the equivalent of 1 kWh of electricity, 1 m3 of hydrogen or 1 litre of fuel.

“I’m proud to see more teams and nations than ever joining the Shell Eco-marathon family this year. It’s very impressive that new starters from countries like Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bangladesh have made successful runs and recorded results in their first year, and I look forward to welcoming more newcomers in the next edition,” said Norman Koch, Shell Eco-marathon Technical Director.

Six Off-Track Awards Presented to Outstanding Student Teams

In addition to the 10 On-Track awards, teams also competed for six Off-Track Awards that tested their technical and creative skills, as well as their approach to safety and sustainability. A panel of experts from various fields judged the students on a variety of categories that covered Safety, Communications, Technical Innovation, Vehicle Design, Perseverance and Spirit of the Event and Tribology. The Shell Helix Tribology Award is an off-track award that recognises student teams that demonstrate the use of lubrication engineering principles to improve the fuel efficiency result of their vehicles.

The “Perseverance and Spirit of the Event” award went to Team Alfaisal from Alfaisal University of Saudi Arabia, for showing great resilience despite a delay in receiving their car onsite. The precious time lost did not stop them from sharing their materials and resources with neighbouring teams. They donated their spare engine to a competing Philippine team who faced sudden challenges with their engine.

“It’s not all about the competition, but about the shared knowledge as well,” said Abdulmoshin Albabtain, Team Alfaisal’s driver and team leader. “Several teams came to help us as we experienced challenges along the way. It was all for one and one for all.”

Team Nanyang E Drive from Nanyang Technological University Singapore won two off-track awards in Safety and Technical Innovation. For the latter award, the team impressed the judges from Southwest Research Institute with the application of a novel steering mechanism which included stepper motor control. As a result, the vehicle was able to lean when turning corners to maintain its speed.

“Shell Eco-marathon is about inspiring the youth to come up with solutions for the future. This innovation will help us look at smarter mobility, and explore new types of fuel which can be more sustainable,” said Edgar Chua, Country Chairman of the Shell companies in the Philippines.

Overview of Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 winners

Prototype Category

Shell FuelSave Gasoline

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/l)
1	ATE.1	Thailand	Kong Thabbok Upatham Changkol Kho So Tho Bo School	Gasoline	1,490.2km/l
2	CKD - MIN10	Vietnam	University of Technical Education Ho Chi Minh City	Gasoline	568.0km/l
3	Batavia Generation Team	Indonesia	Universitas Negeri Jakarta	Gasoline	485.4km/l

 

Shell FuelSave Diesel

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/l)
1	Clean Diesel Team	Japan	Hyogo Prefectural Tajima Technical Institute	Diesel	1245.2km/l
2	Panja	Thailand	Panjavidhya Technological College	Diesel	530.7km/l
3	WithOut Limits	United Arab Emirates	Higher Colleges of Technology, Ruwals (RUC)	Diesel	175.4km/l

 

Alternative Fuel

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt      (km/l)
1	Virgin	Thailand	Sakonnakhon Technical College	Ethanol	1572.0km/l
2	Luk Jao Mae Khlong Prapa	Thailand	Dhurakij Pubdit University	Ethanol	458.8km/l
3	Deakin Prototype	Australia	Deakin University	Ethanol	281.1km/l

 

Battery Electric

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/kWh)
1	NSTRU Eco-Racing	Thailand	Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University	Battery Electric	451.3km/kWh
2	Ratanakosin Technological college	Thailand	Rattanakosin Technological College	Battery Electric	368.7km/kWh
3	EcoTraveller	Singapore	Institute of Technical Education (ITE)	Battery Electric	324.5km/kWh

 

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/m3)
1	UiTM Eco-Sprint	Malaysia	Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam	Hydrogen	315.6km/m3
2	Eco-Voyager	Malaysia	University of Malaya	Hydrogen	216.0km/m3
3	GenNext Pejuang	Brunei	Universiti Brunei Darussalam	Hydrogen	186.8km/m3

 

UrbanConcept Category

Shell FuelSave Gasoline

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/l)
1	DLSU Eco Car Team - I.C.E.	Philippines	De La Salle University	Gasoline	126.6km/l
2	Donmuang Technical college	Thailand	Donmuang Technical College	Gasoline	76.9km/l
3	Innova	Pakistan	Pakistan Institute Of Engineering and Applied Sciences	Gasoline	58.1km/l

 

Shell FuelSave Diesel

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/l)
1	ITS Team 2	Indonesia	Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember	Diesel	152.7km/l
2	Cikal Diesel	Indonesia	Institut Teknologi Bandung	Diesel	136.9km/l
3	Bengawan Team 2	Indonesia	Sebelas Maret University	Diesel	99.2km/l

 

Alternative Fuel

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/l)
1	LH - GOLD ENERGY	Vietnam	Lac Hong University	Ethanol	164.4km/l
2	Horas Mesin	Indonesia	University of Sumatera Utara	Ethanol	134.7km/l
3	IST AKPRIND 1	Indonesia	Institut Sains & Teknologi AKPRIND	Ethanol	89.0km/l

 

Battery Electric

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/kWh)
1	Team UP	Philippines	University of the Philippines - Diliman	Battery Electric	40.5km/kWh

 

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Rank	Team name	Country	School Name	Fuel type	Best attempt (km/m3)
1	UiTM Eco planet	Malaysia	Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam	Hydrogen	105.8km/m3

 

 

 

 

Off-Track Awards Winners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communications

Anubis, Team CUT Eco-Racing UC

Cairo University Faculty of Engineering, Egypt

Team CUT Eco-Racing UC understood the strategic value of media engagement and was able to get to the heart of it by approaching the Egypt Prime Minister to support their initiative. They organised the country’s biggest engineering festival and succeeded in getting not only the Prime Minister but also six other ministers to attend the event. They also participated in other publicity events and made the news in broadcast and print. This jumpstarted their story to take a life of its own. Their campaign caught the attention of six sponsors who helped them raise a total of almost USD 230,000 which will be used to fund future engineering projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vehicle Design

CD04-evo, Clean Diesel Team

Hyogo Prefectural Tajima Technical Institute, Japan

Clean Diesel Team won for their ingenious vehicle design that successfully integrated ergonomic, aesthetic, material, technical and eco-friendly elements. The vehicle design allows sufficient space for the driver’s comfort, is aerodynamically optimised and visually pleasing. The team efficiently used a structure made of carbon fibre of just the right thickness, turned a conventional approach into creative implementation with their power train and engine management system to improve overall driving efficiency, and utilised recyclable materials reducing the car’s environmental footprint. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technical Innovation

Nanyang Venture IX, Team Nanyang E Drive

Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Team Nanyang E Drive impressed with the application of a novel steering mechanism which included stepper motor control. As a result, the vehicle was able to lean when turning corners to maintain its speed. An electronic control circuit was designed to determine the optimum leaning angle as a function of vehicle speed and corner radius. The same team is also the winner of this year’s Safety award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perseverance and Spirit of the Event

Team Alfaisal

Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia

Team Alfaisal showed great resilience despite a delay in receiving their car onsite. They remained positive and chose to move forward amidst challenges, and focused on preparing whatever they could in advance for when their car was delivered to their garage. Despite precious time lost, it did not stop them from sharing their materials and resources to neighbouring teams. They donated their spare engine to a competing Philippines team which faced sudden challenges with their engine. The team has demonstrated that the event is not about winning, but is about reaching a common goal – driving innovation to achieve sustainable mobility. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety

Nanyang Venture IX, Team Nanyang E Drive

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Team Nanyang E Drive wins the Safety award alongside the Technical Innovation award for displaying strong awareness of potential hazards, and for putting in control checks and measures to ensure that such incidents are prevented. Each team member has consistently displayed adherence to safety practices—a good sign that safety is truly ingrained and embedded in the hearts and minds of the entire team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shell Helix Tribology

Symmetry V3.0, Team TIP Mileage Proto

Technological Institute of the Philippines

Team TIP Mileage Proto from the Technological Institute of the Philippines diligently thought about quantifying the effect of lubricants on friction, and used lubricants with varying viscosity to minimise fuel consumption. By testing different oils available in the market, they were able to understand its effects on fuel economy and took advantage of the benefits of low viscosity synthetic oils.

The team also thought about lubricants in all parts of the engine. They incorporated a chain drive lubricated with a brush type oil dispenser with an automatic timer that also kept the chain clean. Lastly, they looked at the impact of different materials and used wheel bearings with a plastic retainer to improve energy efficiency.

Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 is held in partnership with the Philippine Government, especially the Department of Tourism, Department of Energy and the City of Manila. Its global Partners include HP (Official Global Information Technology (IT) Partner), Michelin (Official Global Paddock Partner and Tyre Supplier), The Linde Group (Official Global Paddock Partner) and Southwest Research Institute (Official Global Paddock Partner). Local private sector partners are Unilever Philippines, Solane, Coca-Cola, Globe and Hyundai.

For more information on all Shell Eco-marathon events across the globe, including official rules, instructions for registration and details on prizes, please visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at www.shell.com/ecomarathon.  

To access event images, please visit the following URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/​.