Shell Eco-marathon contest fuels drive for efficiency

Three Emirati teams travel to the Philippines to compete against 126 other groups to find out who can build the most fuel-efficient car.

Muhammad El Maud, driver for the Emirati team from the American University of Sharjah, prepares for a practice run at the Shell Eco-marathon in Manila. Jes Aznar for The National

MANILA // For three teams of students from the UAE, competing in the Shell Eco-marathon is just a beginning.

They have travelled to the Philippines to compete against 126 other teams to find out who can build the most fuel-efficient car – but ultimately, the goal is to apply the spirit of innovation at home.

“Maybe one of these students will go on to design the car of the future,” said Shell’s chief of human resources, Hugh Mitchell.

The eco-marathon began on Friday; the Manila stop is the first in a three-phase world tour.

“To me, innovation means creativity and working with what you have,” said Ali Akl, 22, the Eco Stallion team leader from the American University of Sharjah. He said all of the materials used to build their car were items already available in the university’s mechanical engineering lab. “So for us, we have built our diesel prototype with only Dh5,000.”

Mohammed Al Hammadi, a student from the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) at Ruwais, is already incorporating energy efficiency in his everyday life by taking public transportation.

Every weekend he drives from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and parks his car at the first metro station. “I’m carless for the entire weekend,” he said. He encourages his friends to join him.

Saeed Al Shamsi, the leader of a second HCT team, Without Limits, said there were many techniques to minimise fuel consumption and save money at the same time. “Now we need to think about fuel consumption more than before,” he said.

It is the second year the team has participated in the Shell challenge – it came third last year. Mr Al Shamsi said they made many mistakes that time. However, the challenge and the other teams inspired Without Limits to make a return visit to the event to hopefully pull out an even better performance.

“Since we were the first guys in Ruwais to do this, we are trying to keep notes for the guys that will come after us,” Mr Al Shamsi said. “We hope it will continue to get better each year.”

The eco-marathon began as a friendly bet between Shell scientists in Illinois to see who could drive their car the furthest on one gallon of fuel in 1939. It has turned into a global event to encourage engineering students to explore new techniques for fuel efficiency.

Illac Diaz, the executive director of MyShelter, a Filipino organisation that promotes green technology, said the event holds promise for a better future.

“There is a genius in the youth and we just have to pull them out,” he said.

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