The cars of the future at the Shell Eco - Marathon

In the year 2000 and beyond, there will be no homeless people and everyone will be living in domes perched on sky-high steel towers. There will be no traffic and flying spaceships will be the primary mode of transportation. There will be no pollution because man has invented a high tech cleaner for the air, the earth, and the seas. If you had asked me twenty years ago what I thought the future would be like, I'd tell you this scenario complete with wide eyes and zooming arms to imitate a spaceship. Back in the ‘80s, the year 2000 seemed so high-tech and so far away. Besides, watching the cartoon The Jetsons made me believe it was possible to progress that fast in two decades. Fast forward to the present, and there are more homeless people while a select few live in sky-high condominium towers. There is even more traffic while wayward buses attempt to fly through the highways. There is even more pollution as people continue the misuse and abuse of the environment. Thankfully, not all of us. One year ago, a group of young men started to invent what could be the cars of the future. They took on the challenge of making the most eco-friendly vehicles in the country: Tiger 400, Grigio and Atalanta. Yes, they're just small cars, but they signify a big step toward conserving one of the world's finite resources: oil. Tiger 400, Grigio, and Atalanta make up Team Philippines, the country's bet to the first ever Shell Eco Marathon in Asia to be held on July 8 to 11 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The eco-marathon traces its roots 70 years ago to a group of Shell USA scientists who held wagers about whose car can go the farthest. In the 1980s, the marathon was formally held in Europe and later brought to the Americas. For the marathon's first run in Asia, Team Philippines will compete with over 100 educational institutions from China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. While the marathon will be held at the Sepang F-1 Circuit, the goal of the Shell Eco-Marathon is not about driving cars at top speeds. Instead, the winner will be the team that can drive the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel. The event will be the culmination of a year-long challenge for the young engineers to come up with innovations that promote energy efficiency and sustainable mobility. For Team Philippines, it was certainly not an easy journey. Crash course Since March 2009, the team has been brainstorming and studying the principles of making a fuel-efficient car. Each group also met with their godfathers, industry experts and former executives of Pilipinas Shell who provided valuable insight and guidance for their inventions. While they were all fulfilling a childhood dream of making actual cars, the students suddenly found themselves taking a crash course in project management. They had to balance class schedules and school projects with team meetings and car-building. They even went as far as marketing their inventions to get sponsorship for car parts and funding for their daily operations. Tiger 400 Despite the long hours and hard labor, team leader Tim Mervin Orille of the 18-man group from UST said they were all determined to make Tiger 400 the most eco-friendly car. "We took this challenge to do something different and to contribute something good. Dinaan lang sa tiyaga kahit gaano kahirap. We were fueled by passion." Named as a tribute to UST's quadricentennial anniversary in 2011, Tiger 400 looked the most sleek and promising among the three cars. It sported a shiny black shell and utilized the modern Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) technology to control its fuel consumption. However, during the test drive, Tiger 400 would not run. Orille said they encountered problems with the EFI but they were confident they could iron out the kinks in time to win the marathon. Grigio Also with 18 members working on the project, the team from Don Bosco had to figure out how to translate their concepts into a prototype. "Okay 'yung theoretical part pero pag-fabricate ng vehicle mahirap. Minsan, hindi nagma-match yung theory sa application," said member Edmund Angeles. Although their car looked the least sophisticated among the bunch, Angeles said their invention was built to be very seamless and highly aerodynamic. Instead of imitating a race car's form, they patterned their vehicle after an aircraft's body sans the wings. Named after their patron Don Bosco's dog, Grigio was built using the most lightweight materials to lessen fuel consumption and fitted with top-of-the-line tires to minimize road friction. Angeles said one of their advantages is having a driver who's a critical thinker and a swift decision maker -- two necessary qualities in case they run into engine trouble during the marathon. Atalanta Senior student Jericho Paolo Rivera, team leader of Mapua Institute of Technology, had a tougher challenge: he only had eight Mechanical Engineering students on his team, and all of them are in their final year. Unlike other teams, they had more at stake for their invention: Atalanta was their thesis and its success or failure can make or break their chances for graduation. Despite being undermanned, they were able to pool their resources and use their engineering training to construct Atalanta, named after the Greek goddess of traveling, running and adventure. "Our winning edge is we've learned how to apply theories in mechanical engineering in the most practical way," Rivera said. They enhanced their vehicle's efficiency by puncturing 300 12mm holes in their car's low-stress areas to facilitate ventilation and to minimize risks of overheating in the engine. Running Atalanta as early as March, their driver has been studying the F1 race track to come up with effective techniques of maneuvering the vehicle. Level playing field With all cars set for their inaugural run, Team Philippines is confident they have a good chance to win the eco-marathon. "The goal is to do our very, very best. If that entails winning, that's fantastic!" said Suiee Suarez, Sustainable Development Manager of Pilipinas Shell. "But I think we have pretty good chances against our Asian counterparts because inaugural event ito for everyone. Level yung playing field. In terms of technology, there are some countries we feel have certain advantages. But I think we'll have a very good showing sa KL." But more than winning the marathon, it's the message the whole effort imparts that is important. "I don't think in the future, I will ever buy a car like that. But these prototypes demonstrate certain principles that can practically teach us normal people what makes an energy-efficient car." Being fuel-efficient Fuel efficiency relies on two key factors: the vehicle and the driver. Keeping a car lightweight is one way to ensure your vehicle is fuel-efficient. When your car has less load, it takes less energy to propel your vehicle forward. Drivers also need to be more conscious about the way they maneuver their vehicles. Accelerating and decelerating at a slow pace ensures better use of energy. However, simple as these measures are, it seems drivers find them difficult to do. Just take a walk along major thoroughfares and you'll see evidence of this in harurot jeeps and careening buses. But Suarez says if everyone makes an effort to observe these steps, it can make a huge impact on the environment. "Now there are an estimated one billion cars in the world. In year 2030-2050, that will double to 2 billion cars," Suarez said. "Our energy source is fossil fuel, it's finite. We need to conserve and be more energy-efficient. Otherwise, mauubos yan." In the year 2030 and beyond, there will be more eco-friendly homes, less crowded roads and a cleaner environment. If we start saving Mother Earth now, who knows how much progress we will have made in the next two decades. – YA, GMANews.TV