Joerg Weigl, one of our protege`s, won prices with his UTM Fuel Cell Vehicle
The Shell Eco-marathon is an annual event which challenges university student teams from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles. The rules are quite easy to handle: The winner is the team that goes the furthest distance while driving around a fixed circuit using the least amount of energy. The Shell Eco-marathon Asia was scheduled for 8-10 July 2010 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 81 teams from 10 countries in the region (China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) taking part in it.
One of our proteges, Dipl.-Ing Joerg Weigl, Phd student at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur was also participating with his fuel cell vehicle. Joerg was exhibiting at Hannover Fair in 2003 and 2010. In 2005, Joerg was a member of our renowned Full Service Package Team at the Hannover Fair: Over many years, I have also met Joerg at many international hydrogen and fuel cells conferences like in Luzern and Vancouver. He should do well. The teams in the Shell Eco-marathon 2010 participated in two categories: either the Prototype or the UrbanConcept type. For the Prototype category, futuristic prototypes (streamlined vehicles with innovative design elements) entered the circuit. For the Urban Concept category, the team developed more "roadworthy" fuel-efficient vehicles which were aimed to meet the real-life needs of drivers. For both categories, though, the participants can use any available energy source for their route to success – including fuels such as diesel, gasoline and liquid petroleum gas, as well as alternative fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and solar. Among the 81 team was also the UTM Fuel Cell Vehicle team from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with its hydrogen fuelled prototype. Originally built as a solar tricycle for solar challenges in Australia and America, the team manager Joerg Weigl converted the solar tricycle to a fuel cell prototype running completely on hydrogen. Using the latest fuel cell system which weighs less than three kilograms it managed to complete the circuit with an astonishing result of 598.8 km/l. With this outcome, the UTM Fuel Cell Vehicle team received the first price in the fuel-cell prototype category and the sixth price in the prototype standing and thus making it the number one among the Malaysian contestants. The UrbanConcept category has been won by a team from the National University of Singapore with their hydrogen-powered KRUCE 2 managing an outcome of 612.4 km/l. The record of 1,521.9 km/l of fuel was set by a Thai team from Kong Thabbok Upatham Changkol Kho So To Bo School with a prototype running on gasoline. Sources: http://www.shell.com/home/content/ecomarathon/ Wong, Daniel. Brains vs brawn at Sepang. New Sunday Times.July 18, 2010. V8-V9
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