Shell Oil’s Eco-Marathon has its origins in a “mileage” race in 1939 that was designed to test the fuel mileage of employee vehicles. This simple contest has evolved into an annual event that promotes better gas mileage in conventional and alternative vehicles. The 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas featured 44 teams and 500 students trying to break the current record for traditional vehicles of 2,843 miles per gallon set by Mater Dei High School in 2008. The testing event took place April 15-18 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. The Prototype and UrbanConcept entrants had to travel seven laps around the track to determine average fuel consumption.
The MPG victory in the 2009 event was the Alerion Supermileage group from Quebec’s Laval University which achieved 2,751 miles per gallon. The group’s vehicle NTF 3.0 used a conventional combustion engine that powered an ultra-light car designed to reduce drag. The students won $5,000 USD for their work as well as bragging rights over their competitors in subsequent competitions.
The Shell Eco-Marathon Americas declared winners in eleven categories including UrbanConcept, Eco-Design Award and Solar Power Prototype. The UrbanConcept category, which required groups to create road-ready cars using traditional and alternative fuels, was won by Mater Dei High School with its gas-powered Street Buggy (433.3 MPG). A group from UCLA used recycled paneling, seats and eco-friendly parts to win the Eco-Design Award from Shell Oil. Purdue University’s Solar Racing team reached 4,913 MPG with its Pulsar solar car to win the Solar Power Prototype category.
The diversity of the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas shows that fuel mileage is a global concern. In addition to 29 universities and six high schools from the United States, groups from Canada, Mexico and Brazil tested their skills on the track. International groups won several awards including the Safety Award (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) and the prototype grand prize (Laval University).
The bigger lesson from the Shell Eco-Marathon event is that it will take a multitude of new vehicle designs to wean ourselves from a dependence on oil. The event’s focus on conventional and alternative fuels along with the past successes of groups like Laval University and Mater Dei High School show that a transition to high-mileage vehicles is looming. While the high-mileage vehicles featured in the 2009 Shell contest aren’t ready for production, they show the availability of technology that can be implemented with government and corporate investment.
