UiTM’s Eco-sprint emerged as champions for the forth consecutive year at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2017
Mar 20, 2017
Malaysia marks an impressive 1-2 finish in the hydrogen prototype category. The Shell Eco-marathon Asia, a key element of the inaugural Make the Future festival, is a student design-and-build competition showcasing the region’s most energy-efficient vehicles
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia receives 1st place Hydrogen Fuel Cell - Prototype during the awards ceremony on the final day of Make the Future Singapore 2017 at the Changi Exhibition Centre, Sunday, March 19, 2017 in Singapore. (Joseph Nair for Shell)
SINGAPORE, 20 March 2017 – Raking in the top spot yet again, Team UiTM Eco-Sprint from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia brought home victory for the fourth consecutive time with a result of 359.4km/m3 in the Hydrogen category, at the recently held Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2017 competition in Singapore. Emerging as the runners up in the same category, University of Malaya’s Eco-Voyager earned Malaysia a sweet 1-2 victory by achieving an improved reading of 255.7km/m3 (compared to the team’s previous reading at the competition last year)!
The Shell Eco-marathon Asia is an annual competition that challenges teams to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient cars. This year,123 student teams from 20 countries competed in either of two categories of the competition: Prototype – futuristic and highly aerodynamic vehicles – or UrbanConcept – highly economical vehicles that resemble today’s cars. These categories were further divided into three sub-categories of energy sources, of which students would select from: Internal Combustion Engine (ICE): Gasoline, diesel, ethanol (biofuel), Gas to Liquid (GTL) fuel made from natural gas, CNG (compressed natural gas); hydrogen fuel cell; and battery electric power.
“For eight years now, the regions’ brightest minds have come together to design, build and test their energy efficient vehicles at the Shell Eco-marathon. I’m especially proud of our young Malaysian engineers and innovators who have showcased their tenacity and perseverance alongside their technical expertise to address the global need for cleaner energy. Year after year, we see them improving not just their designs, but also their confidence – after all, the competition puts more than their engineering capabilities on display. It also harnesses their soft skills such as team leadership, marketing and communications, and business acumen as well,” said Datuk Iain Lo, Shell Malaysia Country Chairman.
Team UiTM Eco-Sprint manager Amirah Athirah Rohazam said, “This competition has tested us beyond our technical abilities and really pushed us to better our time and project management skills, all of which are useful non-technical proficiencies in our field. I wish more teams will benefit from the competition like we did and hope that the future teams representing the country will win again with better results! In addition, I hope competitions like this will help to popularise STEM subjects in Malaysian education institutions, especially amongst aspiring women engineers.”
Team UM Eco-Voyager manager S.Inthiran said, “Our team members are all from various engineering departments – some are from mechanical, some others are from electrical. And in designing this car, we came together to produce a more fuel-efficient automobile, integrating our learnings from a diverse expertise and bringing our theoretical knowledge to life. We also really pushed ourselves to win as this competition put us on an international stage and representing Malaysia beyond our faculties and university was an honour.”
The competition that has been running in Europe for more than three decades and in the United States since 2007 made its debut in Asia in 2010 and Malaysia was the first country in this region to host the competition. In every region, similar rules apply in which, all vehicles must pass a set of technical tests before they are allowed onto the competition circuit to see how far they can get on the least amount of fuel, and potentially achieve the highest mileage in the competition.
Celebrating the best of energy and mobility, the competition saw student teams from Asia Pacific and the Middle East showcase their self-built vehicles at the eighth edition of Shell Eco-marathon Asia that was featured as part of the Make the Future Singapore festivals for the first time.
Shell’s Make the Future Festivals of ideas and innovation are a global initiative with events in Asia, America and Europe. The Asia event has the widest geographical reach with 20 countries participating, accounting for more than 60% of the world’s population.
This year, the competition took on an additional element of excitement with the inaugural Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) Asia, an exciting race format in which the best teams in the region will compete for their place in the Drivers’ World Championship Grand Final in London in on May 28, 2017. Two teams from Indonesia and one from the Philippines will represent Asia to face-off against the best three teams from both the Americas and Europe to be crowned overall Grand Final champions and earn a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the home of Scuderia Ferrari.
For more information on Make the Future Singapore, please visit http://sg.makethefuture.shell/.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
To access event images, please visit the following URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/.
About Shell Eco-marathon
Shell Eco-marathon is a unique, global competition that challenges students to push the boundaries of energy efficiency on the road. There are three Shell Eco-marathon competitions held throughout the year in Asia, America and Europe. The competition provides an arena for students to test vehicles they design and build themselves. It aims to inspire young people to become scientists and engineers of the future.
Shell Eco-marathon began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the United States as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. In 1985 in France, Shell Eco-marathon as we know it today was born. In April 2007, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas event was launched in the United States, and in 2010, the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Malaysia, up until 2013. The event was held in Manila, Philippines from 2014 to 2016 and moves to Singapore as part of the Make the Future festival for the first time in 2017.
About Make the Future Singapore
Make the Future Singapore is a festival of ideas and innovations for Asia that supports bright energy ideas and provides a platform for innovation, collaboration and conversation about the global energy challenge. It is a four-day event that will take place at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore from March 16-19, 2017. Through virtual reality and hands-on experiential zones, visitors will be able to explore what is happening now and see what the future of energy might look like, from renewable energy to natural gas and low-carbon technologies; learn about bright ideas from around Asia; and participate in interactive zones about the future of energy, mobility and innovation by Shell and other partners. For more information, please visit http://sg.makethefuture.shell/.
ENQUIRIES:
Eevon Chung
Head of Media Relations & Issues Management,
Shell Malaysia
eevon.chung@shell.com