Thai students beat own record at Shell Eco-marathon Asia – five Malaysian teams take honours

Thai students beat own record at Shell Eco-marathon Asia – five Malaysian teams take honours

How far can your car travel on one litre of fuel? Ten kilometres, perhaps twenty at absolute best? Now imagine a fuel consumption figure of 2,903 km/litre. That’s KL to Bangkok and back, on one litre of fuel. You read that right.

An all-student team from Thailand’s Dhurakij Pubdit University has achieved just that at the Sepang circuit last weekend with their Ethanol E100-powered vehicle at Shell Eco-marathon Asia, smashing their own 2011 record of 2,213 km/litre – as if that wasn’t frugal enough.

Thai students beat own record at Shell Eco-marathon Asia – five Malaysian teams take honours

On the home front, student teams from Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Universiti Malaysia Pahang took home cash prizes across five different categories. This year saw 28 Malaysian teams take part, the biggest representation from a single country.

The first Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in 2010 and has been at Sepang ever since, although by 2014 it will move to Manila. Essentially, student teams from colleges and universities throughout Asia compete to design, build and run energy-efficient vehicles.

Thai students beat own record at Shell Eco-marathon Asia – five Malaysian teams take honours

Apart from the familiar gasoline and diesel, energy types employed were hydrogen, solar, battery electric, Gas to Liquids (GTL), Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and Ethanol E100. 119 teams from a total of 18 countries were there this year, including China, India, Iran, Japan and even the United Arab Emirates.

I caught up with the UAE team, who came all the way from the Abu Dhabi Men’s College and made history by being the first ever contingent from the country. Their three-wheeled vehicle, built in four months, features a lightweight aluminium frame and a 243cc Hatz diesel engine chain-driving the solitary rear wheel through a 14-speed gearbox (likely taken off a bicycle).

Thai students beat own record at Shell Eco-marathon Asia – five Malaysian teams take honours

The team members have only just graduated with Applied Mechanical Engineering degrees and hope to support and advise next year’s representation.

You can find the full results and more details at www.shell.com/ecomarathon. Gallery after the jump.

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Jonathan James Tan

While most dream of the future, Jonathan Tan dreams of the past, although he's never been there. Fantasises much too often about cruising down Treacher Road (Jalan Sultan Ismail) in a Triumph Stag that actually works, and hopes this stint here will snap him back to present reality.

 

Comments

  • Dunstan Pilang on Jul 09, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    Eco, eco, eco. It’s not like we can drive those things on the road for real.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
    • aliphatic on Jul 09, 2012 at 6:39 pm

      What a negative thought, everything starts with an idea bro. U have none, so u stay quiet let those with brilliant minds rule the world.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • ah seng on Jul 09, 2012 at 6:59 pm

        a fuel efficient on this calibre is not feasible on today’s road…

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • ah seng on Jul 09, 2012 at 6:57 pm

      fully agree!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • armandd on Jul 09, 2012 at 8:31 pm

      When fuel prices increase 10-fold in the future, then you may want to reconsider your thoughts…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • b sensible on Jul 09, 2012 at 11:08 pm

        students shd challenge the status quo in reinventing the compressed natural gas for efficiency & safety…changing the perception than cng is prone to leakages, explosion…for long term…research into solar / wind / air powered vehicle…do in today and not waiting for the end of the world!

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Kambing on Jul 13, 2012 at 4:33 am

      Shallow minded. Grow up dude. It is not about fuel eco only, It’s about process of learning and creative thinking. In engineering we never stop learning, even at age of 80. I guess u have stopped learning after form 5. Stop bashing and start learning again!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • this competition is more towards developing engineering skills among future engineers. brainstorm in solving the problem, taking account any possible conditions, teamwork, leadership in preparing for a competition crucial things, etc is a things that one gonna face while working on the field later on. winning the competition would be a bonus. even im myself involve in many robotic competition. i tell you, those skills that i get really makes me difference compare to my colleges who only rely on CGPA for the whole 4 years.

    anyway that’s what engineers should be. not memorizing everything before exam, than right after exam s/he simply forget everything. then whats the value of learning?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • kambing on Jul 09, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    Now, this kind of news is what we must have in the front pages of every news papers. Instead, we have gutter politics everyday as news. How can young generations be motivated?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Metroboy on Jul 10, 2012 at 12:32 am

      It will make the front page if the Malaysian team had been the one who set the record. Malaysia boleh but when it comes to real hard stuff at international level we are nowhere there yet. Syabas to the winning team.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Not too sure if the results are directly tied to the decline of the malaysian automotive industry and the state of the malaysian education system decline.
    In terms of renewable energy (solar, hydrogen, ethanol), winners are SG, SG, TH.
    Conventional energy,
    Gasoline: 1st: TH (1120), 6th: USM (260)
    Diesel: 1st: CN, Malaysia no entry

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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