Chinese college students win awards at Shell Eco-Marathon Asia

Among 81 teams from 10 countries across Asia, China’s Tongji University team won the third place for the Prototype Combustion Grand Prize. Their car travelled 940.4 kilometres on a litre of gasoline.

The Tongji team followed Thai and Japanese teams who emerged to the top in the same competition category. The champion team from Thailand set a record of 1,521.9 kilometres on a litre of fuel, enough to cover a distance from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok.

The other Chinese team from Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) ranked seventh in the Prototype Combustion category.

Other than the On Track Awards, Off Track Awards were also given for Safety, Technical Innovation, Communications and Marketing. The winners were selected for their ability to work in a safe manner, articulate their thoughts well, demonstrate innovation in their design and have teamwork.

The Tongji team won the Communication and Marketing Awards and the third place for the Safety Award, while the BIT was recognized as the Most Recycled Team whose material reuse activities were the most outstanding. The Tongji car also won the second place of the Autodesk Innovative Car Design Challenge 2010.

Zhu Yong, Captain of the Tongji team, said: “Shell Eco-marathon is a very good platform for students to enhance and demonstrate their abilities of designing, manufacturing and running their cars. The key concept of our competition is fuel-efficiency and environment. We are proud of our performance and hope this competition will continue.”

Li Ji of the BIT team said: “Although we experienced some frustrations like a car turn-over, we learned a lot from our teamwork and the spirit of persistence. We also appreciate the great help from Shell volunteers and other teams to face the challenges. Finishing the race left us with many exciting, unforgettable moments.”

Lim Haw-Kuang, Executive Chairman of Shell Companies in China, said: “I’m really glad to see Chinese students participating in the regional competition and achieving outstanding performance in vehicle design and energy efficiency. Innovation for fuel-efficiency, as demonstrated by the young talents in Shell Eco-marathon, echoes what Shell is striving to do in China and elsewhere: meet the growing energy demand with our leading technology in a sustainable manner.”

Shell Eco-marathon Asia is an annual competition that challenges students to design, build and drive a vehicle that can travel the furthest distance on the least amount of fuel.
Student teams participated in either the Prototype or Urban Concept categories. For the Prototype category, teams entered futuristic prototypes – streamlined vehicles focused on maximizing fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction. For the Urban Concept category, teams entered more “roadworthy” fuel-efficient vehicles. Aimed at meeting the real-life needs of drivers, these vehicles are closer in appearance to the cars seen on roads today.

For both categories, teams can use any conventionally available energy source – including fuels such as diesel, gasoline and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), as well as alternative fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and solar.

The kick-off of the event in Asia last Thursday made the Shell Eco-marathon a truly global event for the first time. It has been running in Europe since 1985 and the United States since 2007.

Also at the Sepang F1 circuit, Asia’s Smartest Driver 1 Litre Challenge was held for consumer drivers from the region. The event introduced fuel-saving tips to the drivers, and launched a tense competition to drive as far as possible using just one litre of Shell FuelSave. Four drivers from China’s mainland and Hong Kong took part in the competition.

For inquiries, please contact:

Fan Yuelong
Shell Companies in China
Tel: (86-10) 6505 4501 ext. 2878
Email: yuelong.fan@shell.com

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