What happened at our eco-friendly car project's first competition?
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You may have read last month that Green Motion sponsored an eco-friendly car project developed by one of Britain’s leading universities. After all, energy efficiency is at the core of what we do.
Well, on May bank holiday weekend (28th May) the team of mechanical engineering students from University College London took part in their first racing event following our sponsorship. Green Motion was in attendance to show support to the students at the event held at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
European Shell Eco-marathon
The Shell Eco-marathon is a competition that challenges students from around the world to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient car. For the European competition, UCL Racing was one of 200 teams from 29 countries.
In their subcategory – teams whose vehicle is powered by hydrogen – UCL Racing were the only UK team to pass the strict series of technical and safety inspection tests. This meant that the team were ready to compete against other European students from countries including Netherlands, Turkey and France.
Despite promising runs, on the 8th lap of 10, a tire burst after running over debris from a crash earlier in the day meant that the team was unable to finish – an unfortunate end to what was looking like a potentially victorious entry.
“Practice runs and early laps showed that our designs and fuel efficiencies worked,” explains Dr Tim Baker, project leader of the programme at UCL. “The team were really unlucky but we’re still very proud of our achievements. Ups and downs are part of engineering. We’re already planning for next year!”
In the end, just two of the 13 hydrogen-fuelled teams, Italy and Germany, completed ten laps of the 2.2km track.
Face of the event
In the lead up to the European Shell Eco-marathon, such was the quality of their entry, UCL Racing’s vehicle was the face of Shell’s annual ultra-energy-efficient racing competition campaign.
The vehicle was used to promote the event on advertisements on the front page of the Evening Standard and tube.
What now?
We’re very pleased to have committed to a three-year sponsorship of the team at University College London. We will continue to provide technical and industry support for the students as well as financial backing.
Although the team was unfortunate on this occasion, we’re confident that the three years will bring lots to cheer about.
“We decided to sponsor the team because these young engineers could one day be developing fuel efficient vehicles that are road worthy. Although this year’s event must have been disappointing for them, experiences like this are all part of their development,” explains Will Wynter, Franchisee Development Manager from Green Motion. “In testing, their vehicle was achieving an amazing 7,000 miles per gallon. If something of that range is road worthy it would completely revolutionise the transport industry!”
