A team of high school students from Indiana, created a vehicle that achieved 2,843.4 miles per gallon on an internal combustion engine, winning the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition.
That bears repeating–2,843.4 miles per gallon.
Each of these students, as well as those from other top teams that eclipsed the 2007 record distance for the competition, should be given jobs engineering vehicles for Ford and GM, which have claimed it will be a overly difficult to achieve fuel efficiencies in the range of 30-35 miles per gallon over the next 10 years, as required in standards set by California and the U.S. Congress.
Sure there are big differences between production-ready vehicles and the lightweight prototypes built by these students. But do they account for big auto manufacturers achieving less than 1% of the fuel efficiency achieved by the students from Mater Dei High School?
It just doesn’t add up.
"Students participating in this competition are the brains of the future, stretching the boundaries of fuel efficiency and providing solutions to the global energy challenge," Mark Singer, project manager for the marathon, said. "Throughout the two-day competition, teams are constantly making improvements to their vehicles, exchanging ideas and inspiring one another to pay attention to their own energy footprint."
Here’s to hoping these "brains of the future"’ make a quick transition to the U.S. industry.
Below are the other remarkable results of teams from Canada, Mexico and across the U.S. who brought solar-powered, fuel cell, diesel and liquid petroleum vehicles to the competition last weekend in Houston, Texas.
Combustion Engine
The 6th Gen vehicle from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Ind., took first place in this category with its 2,843.4 mpg (1,208.6 kilometers per liter) run.
Diesel
Eureka, Calif., based Diesel Corsair team placed first. The College of the Redwoods team achieved 304.5 mpg (129.4 kilometers per liter).
LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gasoline)
The Spartans from Schurr High School in Montebello, Calif., achieved 163.5 mpg (69.5 kilometers per liter) in their Mach 1 prototype vehicle.
Fuel Cell/Hydrogen
Penn State’s HFV Team from University Park, Pa., achieved 1,668.3 mpg (709.1 kilometers per liter) in its Blood, Sweat and Gears vehicle.
Solar
The Purdue Solar Racing team from West Lafayette, Ind., took first place with its solar vehicle Pulsar, which achieved 2,861.8 mpg (1,216.4 kilometers per liter).
See a picture of the winning vehicle.
Loading...