Shell's eco-marathon challenge comes to India in December

Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell announced on Wednesday it is bringing their marquee event - Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) - to India for the first time.

A Shell release here said that SEM, first launched in 1939, is the world's longest-running student competition for engineering students to design, build and test fuel-efficient cars.

"The SEM Challenger will be part of Make the Future India to be held in Chennai between December 6-9.

"Indian teams have been partcipating since 2010 but this is the first time the competition will be held on home ground," it said.

Shell said Make the Future is a global platform for "conversation, collaboration and innovation around the world's energy challenges."

"This is also a great opportunity for student teams to test and fine tune their vehicle for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2019," it said.

Citing examples of the Indian students' ingenuity, the release said Team Averera from IIT BHU created a light weight three-wheeler electric vehicle with customized motor controller, that clocked a mileage of 350 km on a single litre of fuel.

"The ingenious team from Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, created the prototype with a 100cc motorcycle engine that clocked a mileage of over 100 km per litre, while team BITS Pilani worked on a car that would literally, run on garbage, using ethanol to drive its way into the fuel-efficiency competition," it added.

--IANS

bc/vd