IME at Shell Eco-marathon | Part 2

May 8, 2019 | 0 comments

We are continuing the coverage starting from the race day! Today we are expecting teams to display their fiercest spirits as we have already heard many teams cheering yesterday when they passed inspection! Let us see where the day brings us and watch these cars perform on track!

The day starts with teams getting prepared, cars being checked and strategic meetings being held. We are seeing teams putting on their serious faces, some teams pulling out computers to do some last minute tuning work and some teams taking a break from all the exhaustions from the previous days. As we have expected, not many teams have actually made it past the inspection phase. This has led to a drop in number of teams that can actually participate in the race. At the same time, it makes us anticipate more from these teams who were able to get through those strict 11 inspections and are finally able to get some action on track!

Team 701 from Lac Hong University Vietname (UrbanConcept –Battery Electric)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47703161222/

Team 32 from LuZhou Vocational and Technical College Team, China (Prototype, Gasoline)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/40790149033/

 As it seems, many teams favor a sitting position as such, keeping the center of gravity as low as possible and at the same time reducing weight getting rid of any unnecessary room!

Team 31 Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia (Prototype, Ethanol)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/40790086503/in/photostream/

Team 301, HuaQi-EV from Guangzhou College of South China University of Technology, China (Prototype – Battery Electric)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47703944722/

As we can see from the pictures above, we have 3 different teams with a similar setup. All 3 have low center of gravity with drivers in an almost ‘lying flat’ position. Their heads are tilted with some headrest of soft material, but we are not too sure how sore their necks/ back will be after the race though! A quick observation: most of the drivers are actually females, we suspect it may be because of their smaller size and lighter weight that could possibly give them the edge in the race.

 
Let’s move on to the exciting stuff! Track action!

Team 611 Monash UC, Malaysia (UrbanConcept – Hydrogen)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/46831420725/

We were all cheering for our Malaysian teams, hoping that they could bring home a victory on home grounds! As the sun soars above us, the race kept going. Sessions after sessions of competitive and exciting races kept us at the edge of our seats. Here are some pictures of how competitive the race was. (I hope that the drivers were aware that they were competing for fuel efficiency and not get carried away with racing one another!)

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/33870977548/

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47748041931/

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47703176692/

Just by looking at the pictures we could already tell the intense battle between teams on track!

Here are the final results:

On-track

UrbanConcept winners:

  1. Combusion Engine –  ITS Team Sapuangin (Indonesia)
  2. Battery Electric – LH –EST (Vietnam)
  3. Hydrogen – Nanyang E Drive (Singapore)

Prototype:

  1. Combustion Energy – RMUTP Racing (Thailand)
  2. Battery Electric – HuaQi-EV (China)
  3. Hydrogen – TP ECO FLASH (Singapore)

Driver’s World Championship Asia:

  • 1st – Nanyang E Drive (Singapore)
  • 2nd – ITS Team 5 (Indonesia)
  • 3rd – LH – EST (Vietnam)

For more information on the results and ranking for each category, please visit:
https://www.shell.com/make-the-future/shell-ecomarathon/asia.html
 
The winner from the Driver’s World Championship Asia (Nanyang E Drive) will be going to London to compete with teams from America and Europe.  Let us support our fellow Asians by giving them your support for their upcoming competition!
This year the Prototype leaderboard has been dominated by Thailand again, with an impressive result of 1549.6 km per liter of Ethanol. With this, they could probably drive home from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok! During the interview, they said that their experience over the past 3 years has really helped them but emphasized on the importance of teamwork. Their team manager was overwhelmed with happiness; it was a great sight to see teams achieving results after putting in their hard work. 
 
But we haven’t forgotten about the other winners for their respective category! HuaQi-EV managed an impressive 501.6 km/kWh (Battery Electric) result and TP ECO FLASH with a 403.3km/m3 result (Hydrogen). These teams have dominated their respective categories and if you look at the leaderboard you will know what I mean. They have showed understanding in what they do, shown us their capabilities and expressed their passion on track. Here, we would like to give a special mention to Team GUC Innovators from German University in Cairo, Egypt for developing a system where drivers with physical limitations could operate via brainwave and facial sensors and won the ‘Technical Innovation Award’ from Shell. Also, we would like to congratulate Team #311 Grüne Welt, from Multimedia University Melaka Campus for Winning the Circular Economy Award. They won a hefty amount of USD 3000 based on their ability to integrate the concept of circular economy into their design!

Congrats to Team 311 Grüne Welt from MMU, Melaka!

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47756549671/

As the results have been announced we could hear teams cheering and shouting for joy. Overall, the event was a huge success and the atmosphere couldn’t have been better. It was a huge honor for us (IME Technology Sdn Bhd and SolidWorks) to be a part of this event and we would like to thank all the teams for their cooperation and making this event such a success. Through this event, we saw the dedication and passion from the younger generation of engineers and we do hope to see all of you again in the next SEM Asia event!

Image obtained from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/47739104221/

We at IME Technology Sdn Bhd would like to extend our support to our teams/individuals that are planning to participate in SEM (Shell Eco-Marathon) next year or are looking to improve themselves to be the better engineers of tomorrow. We can offer training, CSWP (Certified SolidWorks Professional) qualifications that can greatly improve your skills/ job opportunities. The CSWP qualification is recognized worldwide and is a very powerful tool in the engineering industry; do not hesitate to contact us for more information! 
 
**** IME Technology Sdn Bhd is a member of IME Group of companies, the leading and most established CAD, CAM, and CAE solutions provider in Malaysia since 1980. In 1996, IME Technology partnered up Dassault Systemes to specialise in 3D CAD Design, CAM (Machining) and CAE (FEA Simulation). Meanwhile IME also specialise in providing consultancy services, technical support, training and certification to the Malaysian engineering and manufacturing industries, universities, polytechnics and other institutions.