Between 29th April and May 2nd 2019, industry giant Shell held the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2019 – a race featuring innovative, ultra energy-efficient cars designed and fabricated by bright and talented university students. Students from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) did us proud by blazing to victory in the Fastest Prototype category.
Bearing the name MMU Grune Welt, our team clocked the fastest speed of the competition, 278 km/kWh. Team leader Athmas Thum Jian Hua, said that the victory was especially meaningful, after their unfortunate performance during last year’s meet, when their car faced one setback after another.
“We tried a lighter design using carbon fibre on nearly the entire car and its components,” he said. “Thanks to the help of our lecturers, we managed to minimize the costs and the usage of composite materials, and kept down the price tag to less than RM10,000.”
For their hard work, MMU Grune Welt bagged US$3,000, as well as the cup and participant certificates. The team comprised 24 students from FET, some of whom took time out from their industrial training, and used up six months of their time putting together the car.
The Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2019 is the latest instalment of a 30-year tradition by Shell. This year’s competition saw the participation of more than 100 students from 21 institutions from around the Asia Pacific, who competed in two categories, urban and prototype. Malaysia played host this year at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), and was represented by five universities: MMU, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Monash University, and Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
Congratulations to all!
