KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11: Over 100 teams from Asia and the Middle East will test their self-built energy-efficient cars in the Shell Eco-marathon Mileage Challenge to see who can go the farthest using the least amount of energy.
It will be held at the Sepang International Circuit here from April 29 to May 2.
In a statement today, Shell announced that Malaysia would host the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2019 as part of its global Make the Future Live programme.
The Asia competition comes back to where it was first held in 2010 and also to celebrate its 10th year of challenging bright young students’ minds to design and build ultra-energy-efficient cars and then take them out on the track in competition.
Last year, Singapore hosted the event, where the winning team was efficient enough to travel 2,341km – about the distance from Malaysia to Yangon in Myanmar – on just one litre of fuel!
“Shell Malaysia is proud to host the 10th Shell Eco-marathon Asia at our home ground. It is an inspiring event that supports Shell’s vision of sustainable mobility — more energy efficient vehicles and cleaner road transport.
“It’s really impressive to see student teams pitting their skills against their cohorts from different countries to see who can design and build the most fuel-efficient vehicle,” echoed Shell Malaysia chairman Datuk Iain Lo.
He said Shell had been in Malaysia for over 125 years and would continue to power Malaysia’s future with cleaner, innovative and competitive energy solutions, some of which will be showcased at the event.
Shell also revealed that the student teams would also have the opportunity to qualify for the Shell Eco-marathon Drivers’ World Championship.
Introduced to the Shell Eco-marathon programme in 2016, Drivers’ World Championship challenges the best Urban Concept teams to combine the proven energy efficiency of their car with the speed and skill of their driver in a race to see who can cross the finish line first on the least amount of fuel.
Qualified teams will go to London for a chance to compete with teams from Europe and the Americas.
In 2018, ITS Team 2 from Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya was crowned the ultimate global winner of the Drivers’ World Championship, the second Asian team to win in the three years the competition has been running.
Malaysia will again be participating in Shell Eco-marathon Asia with a contingent of six futuristic cars from six universities competing to be the most energy-efficient.
These universities are inclusive of Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Monash University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Multimedia University.
”Every year, we see an increasing standard of performance as well as team spirit and passion among the student participants at Shell Eco-marathon Asia. The Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia is the perfect venue to witness new innovations in vehicle designs come to life. We look forward to another exciting year at Shell Eco-marathon Asia,” said Shanna Simmons, Shell Eco-marathon Global technical director
For more information on the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2019, visit: https://www.shell.com/make-the-future/shell-ecomarathon/asia.html. — DayakDaily
