Photo: la-joliverie.com
In the time of energy dependence when countries around the world are looking for alternative solutions, a team of French students managed to create what seems to be the most efficient vehicle running on petrol in the world. The team has recently won, for the 21st time, the 2014 Shell Eco-marathon.
Winning this year’s race already became something usual for the French students from the Technical School at La Joliverie College in Nantes. In fact, the Microjoule project started more than 20 years ago. At first, in 1985, it was the school’s team entry in the competition organized by Shell, the eco-marathon. It's a competition created to challenge student teams from around the world to design, build and test ultra energy-efficient vehicles.
But in their existence as one of the best teams, they managed to brake more than one record, while wining the contest for 21 times. The Microjoule holds the all-time Shell Eco-marathon record of driving the furthest on a single litter of petrol: an incredible 3,771 km, in 2009.
This year’s competition, held in May in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the team managed to be ahead of the 200 teams from 25 different countries participating at the race. The creators of the car, that was built from carbon fiber, say they learnt from their annual attendances and that they are trying to improve the Microjoule car every time.
The vehicle's fuel efficiency is achieved through low tyre resistance, air resistance and a very low drag coefficient. Although they didn’t brake their own record made in 2009, they still managed to have the best score this year as well. After testing, judges calculated it could do 2,072 miles (3,330 km) using only one litter of gasoline.
Well, let us just see what exactly that means. Considering the Earth’s circumference at the Equator is 24,902 miles (40,076 km) and that a gallon is approximately 3,78 litters, it means you’d need about 12 litter of gasoline (3 gallons) to circle the planet with this car. In other words, if everything turns out right with your ride, one could travel around the Globe with only 12 dollars. (EUR 8.82). Is that efficient enough?
But in their existence as one of the best teams, they managed to brake more than one record, while wining the contest for 21 times. The Microjoule holds the all-time Shell Eco-marathon record of driving the furthest on a single litter of petrol: an incredible 3,771 km, in 2009.
This year’s competition, held in May in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the team managed to be ahead of the 200 teams from 25 different countries participating at the race. The creators of the car, that was built from carbon fiber, say they learnt from their annual attendances and that they are trying to improve the Microjoule car every time.
The vehicle's fuel efficiency is achieved through low tyre resistance, air resistance and a very low drag coefficient. Although they didn’t brake their own record made in 2009, they still managed to have the best score this year as well. After testing, judges calculated it could do 2,072 miles (3,330 km) using only one litter of gasoline.
Well, let us just see what exactly that means. Considering the Earth’s circumference at the Equator is 24,902 miles (40,076 km) and that a gallon is approximately 3,78 litters, it means you’d need about 12 litter of gasoline (3 gallons) to circle the planet with this car. In other words, if everything turns out right with your ride, one could travel around the Globe with only 12 dollars. (EUR 8.82). Is that efficient enough?
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