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New record at Shell Eco-marathon: 2,843 mpg

Posted Apr 13th 2008 at 5:27PM by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Etc., MPG, Green Daily


click to enlarge

And here I thought 1,902.7 mpg was a lot. That was the winning rating at last year's Shell Eco-Marathon Americas coutresy of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. This year, three teams had a higher mpg score in the event this weekend, and it was the students from Mater Dei High School from Evansville, Indiana who coasted away winners with a mpg rating of 2,843.4 in their #22 vehicle (on the right side in the image above). Mater Dei's second vehicle (#21, on the left) came in third overall. Teams from both universities and high schools competed and Mater Dei took home the $10,000 grand prize.

As you can see in the list of teams that competed in the event, combustion engines far outnumbered other powerplants (six fuel cell, one LPG, one diesel, and two solar cars also competed) and, indeed, Mater Dei's #22 was a combustion-engine prototype vehicle. Details on the top results from the alternative powerplants are available after the jump, but here are the numbers: diesel got 304.5 mpg, LPG made 163.5 mpg, fuel cell/hydrogen made 1,668.3 mpg and solar got 2,861.8 mpg. That higher mpg number wasn't enough to win the competition because fuel economy wasn't the only category that counted toward the final score.

Gallery: 2008 Shell Eco-Marathon




Press Release:

Student-Built Prototype Vehicle Breaks Mileage Record at 2008 Shell Eco-Marathon(TM) Americas

Mater Dei High School team poses with their #22 car, right, which is the grand prize winner, registering 2,843.4 miles per gallon at the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas Saturday, April 12, 2008 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The team's #21 car, left, placed third in the event, which challenges students to design and build eco-friendly vehicles that travel the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel. (PRNewsFoto/Shell) HOUSTON, TX UNITED STATES 04/13/2008

Apr 13, 2008 00:49 ET RSS

Student-Built Prototype Vehicle Breaks Mileage Record at 2008 Shell Eco-Marathon(TM) Americas

Mater Dei's 2,843.4 mpg achievement stretches boundaries of fuel efficiency

HOUSTON, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- "Ladies and gentlemen, start your fuel-efficient engines" were the words that kicked off the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon(TM) Americas; and that's exactly what more than 300 students from Canada, Mexico, and the United States did today. Mater Dei High School of Evansville, Ind., set a new mileage record at the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas, a challenge to design, build and test fuel-efficient prototype vehicles that travel the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel.

The team's combustion-engine prototype vehicle achieved an astonishing 2,843.4 miles per gallon, equivalent to 1,208.6 kilometers per liter. Despite wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour and various teams' mechanical issues, competition was steep this year with three teams breaking the 2007 mileage record set by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

"When we first arrived, I wasn't sure a small high school like Mater Dei could compete with all these elite colleges," said Justin Stute, Mater Dei High School team captain. "But our first run broke the record and then our second car did even better. That really motivated both of our teams to go all the way."

Mark Singer, global project manager for the Shell Eco-marathon said, "Students participating in this competition are the brains of the future, stretching the boundaries of fuel efficiency and providing solutions to the global energy challenge. Throughout the two-day competition, teams are constantly making improvements to their vehicles, exchanging ideas and inspiring one another to pay attention to their own energy footprint."

The 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas welcomed 32 teams from four high schools and 23 universities from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The entries include 25 vehicles powered by combustion engines, four by fuel cell/hydrogen technology, one by diesel fuel, one by LPG (liquid petroleum gas) and two by solar power.

Category winners for the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas include:

Grand Prize

With mileage of 2,843.4 mpg (1,208.6 kilometers per liter) the Supermileage Team from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Ind. won a $10,000 grand prize with their vehicle, 6th Gen.

Combustion Engine

The 6th Gen vehicle from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Ind., took first place in this category with its 2,843.4 mpg (1,208.6 kilometers per liter) run.

Diesel

Eureka, Calif., based Diesel Corsair team placed first. The College of the Redwoods team achieved 304.5 mpg (129.4 kilometers per liter).

LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gasoline)

The Spartans from Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif., achieved 163.5 mpg (69.5 kilometers per liter) in their Mach 1 prototype vehicle.

Fuel Cell/Hydrogen

Penn State's HFV Team from University Park, Pa., achieved 1,668.3 mpg (709.1 kilometers per liter) in its Blood, Sweat and Gears vehicle.

Solar

The Purdue Solar Racing team from West Lafayette, Ind., took first place with its solar vehicle Pulsar, which achieved 2,861.8 mpg (1,216.4 kilometers per liter).

Mileage wasn't the only challenge

Achieving the best fuel economy in a category isn't the only win. Addressing challenges on and off the track and turning them into successes through teamwork and innovation is also a victory for student teams. Months of planning helped teams stretch the boundaries of fuel efficiency.

The weather conditions created challenges for students and required one team to switch to a heavier driver, which resulted in a vehicle redesign.

"We designed a car for a special driver but when we entered into the track at first, we had to change drivers," explained Eugenio Martin, a student from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico (UNAM). "Once the car was modified for the other driver, we had transmission problems. It is the biggest success for us, and it's the greatest feeling because we fixed the transmission problem in one and a half hours."

While the team from Mexico was working through their technical issues, the 17-member team from Universite Laval was on hold for two days waiting for their vehicle to clear U.S. customs. With only one day left to compete, the Canadian team worked well into the night to fully assemble their car and clear inspection within 12 hours. In their first attempt, the team from Quebec moved into fifth place.

"It was a nice outcome that we got the car," Raphael Desiletes-Aube said. "We used the spare time to organize the fastest way to reassemble the vehicle. Once the car got here, it really motivated my team members to push harder so we could get the car out on the track."

Real World Experience

The event also allowed students to gain practical experience by applying concepts taught in the classroom. While designing and financing the vehicle is done before students get to track, teams are constantly making modifications to improve vehicle performance.

Students like Shane Stoterau, a student from Northern Arizona University, said "At NAU, we don't have a lot of hands-on engineering where you actually take something from paper and put it into implementation. So it's actually nice to see where we take a design, fabricate it, and actually run it."

Grand Rapids Technical School student Hillary Ropponen agrees, "I think Shell hosting this event is awesome. For one thing, it helps kids like us from high school learn about engineering, learn how to design things. And then it promotes a lot of the eco-friendly stuff that people care a lot about these days."

Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, employing approximately 112,000 people and operating in more than 130 countries and territories.

Disclaimer statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward- looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''will'', ''seek'', ''target'', ''risks'', ''goals'', ''should'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this Report, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this presentation, May 4, 2006. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this document.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms in this presentation, such as "oil in place" that the SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575 and disclosure in our Forms 6-K file No, 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

[Source: Shell]

Tags: 2843-mpg, cal-poly, eco-marathon, ecomarathon, high-school, mater-dei, shell-eco-marathon, shell-ecomarathon

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