127 teams from 17 countries
Phl teams win 3 awards in Shell Eco-Marathon Asia
Cars that looked like they came right out of a science ction movie lined up the temporary track in Luneta late last February, as the 6th Shell Ecomarathon Asia was held for the second straight year
in Rizal Park in Manila. The Shell Ecomarathon is a unique, Asia-wide (now including Australia) competition that challenges bright young minds to build and design ultra-e cient concept vehicles
that can run the farthest distance on the least amount of energy.
All competitors are teams of college engineering students who submit vehicle entries in either of two categories: prototype or urban concept vehicles. Both of these categories have sub- categories, based on the energy source of choice: unleaded gasoline, diesel, alternative gasoline (ethanol 100), solar power, battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, FAME (fatty acid methyl ester), or, for the first time this year, CNG (compressed natural gas).
The task that each team needs to fulfill is to have their respective vehicles complete a fixed number of laps on the specially-built street circuit in a span of 29 minutes. The amount of energy consumed is then recorded and converted to a rating of how many kilometers it would have traveled per unit of energy (km/unit_energy) (1 unit of energy being either: 1 kWh of electricity; 1 m3 of hydrogen or 1L of fuel). The team whose vehicle registers the best mileage in each sub-category wins the first prize in that sub-category (a cash prize of US$2,000).
This 2015, a total of 127 student teams coming from 17 different countries participated in the competition. Countries that have joined for the first time this year are: Australia, Bangladesh, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Before the teams are even allowed to run their vehicles on the track however, they are first tasked to present their respective vehicles and make sure they pass the compulsory technical inspection test – a series of cross examinations ( ala scrutineering) that counter-checks whether the vehicle entries have adhered to the competition’s technical requirements and that they have passed Shell’s safety standards. Without managing to pass technical inspection on or before the last day of the Ecomarathon, the vehicles will not be allowed to run on the track and will hence be disqualified from the competition.
In addition to the track awards given to the winners under each energy source in both the prototype and urban vehicle categories, the Shell Ecomarathon Asia also gives out Off- Track Awards, that include awards for: Safety, Vehicle Design, Communications, Technical Innovation, Perseverance and Spirit of the Event, and the Shell Helix Tribology Award which recognizes commendable lubrication engineering efforts. The awardees for the Off-Track awards also receive an equal cash prize of US$2,000 per team. It is also worth saying that this 2015, I have been honored to take on a deeper involvement in the Shell
Ecomarathon Asia; as I have accepted the invitation to participate as a juror for the off-track Communications Award.
Beyond the core vehicle- building competition, the Shell Ecomarathon Asia is also sort of a public festival that celebrates innova t ive thinking an d interesting facts about energy and efficiency. A new attraction this year is the Shell Fan Zone, which is an area where visitors can get close to the track, view realtime updates and team statistics, play simulation games and witness the conversion of energy via Shell’s trademark Kinetic Dance Floor.
On its second day alone, the 2015 Ecomarathon welcomed about 17,000 spectators at the event grounds. Notably, this is also the year with the greatest number of Philippine entries recorded so far.
Ever - so - consistent , Thailand emerged as the overall winner as its Team Virgin of Sakonnakhon Technical College ( also the SEM 2014 winner in the Prototype: unleaded gasoline category) clocked in the best mileage in the entire competition – 1,572 km’s on a single liter of ethanol! To put things in perspective, that is equivalent to traveling the distance from Manila to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on just 1 liter of ethanol.
Meanwhile, the Philippine con t ingen t managed to bag three awa rds (two track awards and one off- track award) as DLSU Eco Car Team – I.C.E. from De La Salle University won 1st place in the Urban Concept category, Shell FuelSave gasoline division with their best run registering 126.6 km/ L; and Team UP from the University of the Philippines Diliman won 1st place award in the Urban Concept Battery- Electric division, clockingin 40.5 km/ kWh. Team TIP Mileage Proto from the Technological Institute of the Philippines won the Shell Helix Tribology offt ra c k award for diligently quantifying the effect of lubricants on friction, and manipulating various viscosities to minimize fuel consumption.