It’s the eternal question: How do you get more for less? Well in a world with rising fuel prices and dwindling supplies, this translates into ‘how can I get the most mileage for the least amount of fuel?’ The world needs vehicles that can run more on less fuel; cars, which are efficient as well as environment-friendly.

It is a challenge taken up by a number of companies and car manufacturers all over the globe, and the Shell Eco-marathon is also a part of this. The competition dates back to 1939 when some research scientists, who also happened to be the employees of the oil company, had a bet among themselves over who could travel the longest distance on the same amount of fuel. Today, that little bet has grown into an annual competition among engineering college and university teams in three continents — Asia, America and Europe.

Of the ultra energy-efficient futuristic cars brought to the Asian competition in Manila, Philippines, by over 100 student-teams this month, team How Much Ethanol from Panjavidhya Technological College, Thailand, drove 2,730km on a litre of ethanol to win the competition hands down.

As usual the competition was split into two classes. The ‘Prototype’ class focused on maximum efficiency with futuristic designs, while the ‘Urban-concept’ class encouraged more practical designs looking into the needs and comfort of the driver and passengers. Both types of cars were designed to run on any of seven energy sources — gasoline, diesel, alternative gasoline (ethanol 100), alternative diesel (gas-to-liquid or fatty acid methyl ester) battery electric (solar included) and hydrogen fuel cell. And each car had to pass a strict technical inspection in order to be considered roadworthy and be allowed on the track.

Safety was a major concern of the organisers. Technical Director, Shell Eco-marathon, Norman Koch was checking for everything from driver’s visibility, which had to be 180 degrees, to seat belts to how much a car weighed without the driver and how much it weighed with him or her. “Most teams have female drivers as girls weigh lesser than boys and a lighter car will move faster, obviously, but I’m weighing the drivers, too,” Koch laughed. “Then we are also checking for any hanky panky regarding backup power or fuel supplies. For instance one car had put up a sail, which we removed as this is a competition about producing energy so solar energy is allowed but wind isn’t. If they have thought of everything, well, so have we. That’s why 80 per cent of the universities looking to enter the competition are struggling to come up with the tough car regulations that we have now. Still, there is no rule regarding the material used for making the cars. Recyclable is even better,” he informed.

Tough luck

Though initially far more had registered, only six final entries from Pakistan made it to the competition, out of which five made it on to the track after passing technical inspection. Team Paradigm of Air University, Islamabad, remained slightly unlucky when their urban-concept battery electric car number 707, the grey fibreglass body, Rayon, ran into problems and failed technical inspection, too. This was the university’s fourth time in the Eco-marathon, having entered a petrol, ethanol and electric prototype vehicle in the previous editions and the team seemed confident and proud of Rayon on day one just before taking it in for inspection. Then on day two, they were informed that their seat belt did not match the required standards. Their supervisor Dr Liaquat Ali Khan said: “The organisers want a five-point seat belt. Now a five-point harness is usually used in racing cars or small aircraft. Anyway, we have fixed the seat belt to fit their requirements and are taking the car back for inspection.”

But the seat belt, it turned out, was the least of their problems. Later, one of the team members could be spotted running helter-skelter asking around for a battery charger. “Ours blew up!” he said.

Dr Liaquat explained that back home they were used to 50 hertz with 220 volts but they were getting 60Hz on a 220 voltage in Manila, which got the better of their battery charger. Though they were able to charge their battery with the help of another charger they borrowed from someone else at the marathon, the car couldn’t really pick up and never made it to the track. Team Paradigm was really depressed after that. Some of its members were final-year students and knew this was their last time at the Eco-marathon.

Lively team

Taking part in the event since the first Shell Eco-marathon in Malaysia in 2010, the Pakistan teams hardly made their mark until this year where five of the six got noticed. This was also the first time for the marathon to be taking place in Manila, Philippines. It was always held in Malaysia before that. And last year’s event had to be postponed and then cancelled due to heavy haze over Kuala Lumpur.

“I was so depressed over the missed chance of us not taking part last year that I gained some 12kgs,” said Hira Shaukat, one of the electromechanical engineers in the Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology team, called Hammerhead Arc, taking part in the event for the first time now and recording second position in its respective category on its first attempt.

“Had I not gained so much weight I would have been the driver but now Suleman Kazi is driving Arc, our battery electric purple prototype car. I have allowed him to borrow my goggles during the laps,” she said while exchanging a smile with the other female member of their team, Umama Tahir.

“Yeah, even I am heavier than Suleman,” Umama laughed.

Meanwhile, Suleman, standing nearby in his red fire suit, was of the view that they were able to do so well on the laps thanks to his driving skills.

Each car was allowed five attempts of 10 laps each around the Formula 1-like circuit for which the authorities in Manila cordoned off the Quirino Grandstand, where they hold their parades, and the surrounding roads around Luneta Park.

Team Hammerhead Arc had recorded in a set of photographs their progress in coming up with a prototype vehicle for the marathon. “We have spent around $4,000 on our car. We also made a practice body so there were two cars actually. But doing it again now that we know what exactly is needed in making this car, we will be spending even less than half,” Team Manager Ahmed Zia shared.

Not fair!

The rest of the four Pakistan teams included Pieasian Sarukhs from the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Islamabad, and their red gasoline prototype Muktaniz. The team was one of the first to pass their technical inspection and get on the track but weren’t too happy with the judges’ decision.

“We must have recorded 120km on a litre but the judges never counted that attempt as they said that one of our side covers flapped a bit. On another attempt they said that the car’s brakes slipped a little after stopping so that time was also scratched. We are quite disappointed,” complained Dr Mohammad Javed Hyder, who was there to guide his team.

Meanwhile, PIEAS’s other team, Votex, had the white urban-concept gasoline Pak Agnis, which was admired for its beauty. The young engineers had thought of everything that a comfortable modern car should have.

Off-track winner

Though none of the Pakistan teams could record an on-track win, one of them did, however, manage to walk away with an off-track award given to test the teams’ various technical and creative skills as well as their approach to safety and sustainability. The off-track award for communications went to Pakistan Navy Engineering College-National University of Sciences and Technology (PNEC-NUST) Prototype team. In order to complete their project, the gasoline prototype yellow Ballista 2.0, and reach the Eco-marathon the students of PNEC-NUST generated funds creating awareness and support for their team by taking the help of traditional media besides using public forums to reach out to college and school students, families and community at large. They secured help from local celebrities and attracted a much wider audience through their own media presence so their communications mix and use of multiple channels and platforms turned out to be both effective and innovative in meeting their objectives.

Ansharah Riaz, a second-year mechanical engineering student, was one of the members of the PNEC-NUST Prototype team and their communications and technical advisor. PNEC-NUST also had a gasoline urban-concept car, the dark blue Bolt 2.0, entered in the competition and Ansharah was cheering for that team as well when it passed the technical inspection tests before them. “They may be another team here but we are both from the same university and Pakistani, too,” she pointed out.

Twenty-year-old Ansharah was one of the four girls in the Pakistan contingent. Today she says she wants to go into aeronautics but admits that she wasn’t as clear about what she wanted to do in life before working on Ballista 2.0 for the Eco-marathon with her team. “I almost took Commerce in class 10 but then took Science on a whim as I was also confused between Computer Science and Engineering. But I think I know what to do now. Aeronautics sounds like a good plan,” she smiled.

Syeda Yusra Shah, member of the PNEC-NUST Urban-concept team also said that they went around looking for various sponsors for their team to be able to reach the competition besides designing and working on their car. Sajid Jalil, their team supervisor, shared that they didn’t treat the girls any different than the boys. “We call Yusra Shah ‘Shah Sahib’,” he laughed. “Get back to work, Shah Sahib,” he ordered the girl trying to look stern.

A long distance to cover

Chairman and Managing Director, Shell Pakistan Limited, Omar Yaqoob Sheikh is confident about Pakistan’s capability in terms of coming up with futuristic vehicles. “There is no shortage of capability in Pakistan. We have talent, we know, but we need to polish it. Maybe the difference between a vehicle entered by a Japanese university and a Pakistani university is something like the difference between a pushcart and a Ferrari but this is due to the lack of facilities mostly. So there may be a difference between the tool set and environment but not so much in the people and talent. There may be a long distance to cover but we are getting there by improving,” he said.

“Speaking for my company, I would say that energy is the need of the world, which is mobility-motivated. Looking at how the need for mobility is going to involve more vehicles adding to more exhaust fumes and environmental pollution, we need to work with the issue so that its negativity doesn’t impact lives. Then have you heard anyone saying they want cars that use more fuel? So if there is going to be innovation in technology Shell would like to be there and maintain a competitive edge,” he said.

The Eco-marathon has the company act like a channel between students and their ideas. “They get to learn more from the marathon than they have from their textbooks. But we only fund a portion of their expenses so that they, too, show us that they believe in their product by working towards coming up with the remaining funds themselves,” he pointed out.