19 Teams to Vie for Best Malaysian Team Award in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2010

At a special showcase of the Malaysian contingent today, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai and Kuala Lumpur, and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), revealed their completed vehicles while another nine teams presented drawings of their vehicles that they are currently fine-tuning and plans for the upcoming competition.

Shell Eco-marathon is a unique competition that challenges students to build a vehicle that can travel the furthest using the least amount of fuel. At the same time, it encourages and fosters innovation in exploring potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges.

Shell Malaysia Chairman, Encik Anuar Taib said: “Shell is acutely aware of the growing demand for energy worldwide, and is working hard to address it in a responsible way. The Eco-marathon is our way of inviting others to do the same.”

“We hope by bringing the Shell Eco-marathon to Asia, it will help create greater awareness among Asian, and Malaysian students, of the world’s energy challenges, and the need for new innovative technologies for the future,” he continued.

For the first-ever event in Asia, students teams from Malaysia will field15 prototype and four urban concept vehicles, powered by gasoline, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas and solar.

To further spur the Malaysian teams, Encik Anuar and guest-of-honour, Datuk Dr Zulkefli bin A Hassan, Secretary General, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, today launched a special award for the Best Malaysian Team, comprising a challenge trophy and RM10,000.

The award is open to all Malaysian-based teams competing at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2010 and determined by the team’s overall achievement in safety and technical performance, and marketing and communication competence. Interested teams must submit their achievements on paper by 30 July 2010.

The Malaysian contingent is made up of teams from Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan, Penang, Perak, Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak. They include University of Malaya, International Islamic University Malaysia, The University of Nottingham, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Auto Terminal Training (The Institute of Automotive Technology), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UNITEN (Universiti Tenaga Nasional), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, University Malaysia Sabah and Curtin University of Technology (Sarawak Campus).

Malaysia is second largest team in the competition, after Pakistan (20), followed by Thailand (13), Indonesia (9), Singapore (8) India (6), Philippines (3), Iran (3), China (2), Vietnam (1) and Japan (1).

The competition in 2010 is supported by Autodesk, Michelin, Sepang International Circuit and Malaysia Airlines.

Asia Energy Dialogue

At the inaugural event in July, Shell will also facilitate the Asia Energy Dialogue with the theme “Let’s Go: Keeping Asia moving in the face of the energy challenge”.

Some 100 representatives from Shell, the Government, academia and non-government organisations from around Asia will participate in the dialogue. The Dialogues feature leading experts in the field of energy and environmental studies and are our way of further discussing  the issues that business and community leaders need to grapple with as we work our way through the inevitable transition to a new energy future, when we will need more energy, less C02.

ENQUIRIES:

For further editorial information, please contact Shell Malaysia Media Relations: Cindy Lopez at tel: 03 2091 3719, email: cindy.lopez@shell.com or Stephanie Khoo at tel: 603 – 2091 2115, email: stephanie.khoo@shell.com

Note to Editor

About the Shell Eco-Marathon

The Shell Eco-Marathon is about distance, not speed. The competition challenges student teams to design and build energy efficient vehicles that travel the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel. 

Open to high schools, colleges, universities and technical institutes, the programme challenges student teams to put their innovations to the test in two vehicle categories: “Prototype,” futuristic, streamlined vehicles focused on maximizing fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, and “Urban Concept,” focused on more “roadworthy” fuel-efficient vehicles. 

For both categories, teams can use any of the following fuels to power their vehicles: conventional fuels such as diesel, gasoline and LPG or alternative fuels such as fuel cells/hydrogen, bio-fuel, solar and Gas-to-liquid (GTL).

Malaysia participated for the first time in the 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Europe alongside 25 European countries and 12 Asian teams, through an entry from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

This year, Shell Eco-marathon kicked off in Houston, Texas, USA from 27-28 March, followed by Lausitz, Germany, Europe from 6-8 May. The event in Houston held at Discovery Green was the first street course in the series of Shell Eco-marathon.

In Houston, Laval University from Quebec, Canada took home the grand prize in the prototype category with an astonishing 1,057 km/l while Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Indiana won in the urban concept category with 185 km/l. The win is the second year in a row for both institutions.

In Europe, Polytech’ Nantes, a team from France, smashed the record set by ETH Zurich of Switzerland back in 2005 and emerged as this year’s prototype category champions with an amazing 4,896 km/l. De Haagse Hogeschool from The Netherlands won in the urban concept category with a distance of 747 km/l.

Shell has been running the Shell Eco-Marathon in Europe for nearly 25 years, where the event has grown to include more than 200 teams, thousands of spectators and widespread media attention. In 2007, the event was brought to the Americas with much success. Bringing the competition to Asia helps make this programme a true global initiative for Shell.

Malaysia will host the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Asia from 2010 till 2012. Thereafter it will be brought to another Asian country to host for the subsequent three (3) years.