At the 2014 Shell Eco-marathon Americas in Houston this past weekend, Canadian teams took the top two spots in the gasoline Prototype category. The winning team, from Université Laval, managed to hit 2,824 miles per gallon (mpg), just a few drops ahead of the second-place team, the University of Toronto, which finished with 2,712 mpg. Last year, the winning team got 3,587 mpg. The winning fuel economy figures have ranged in the past all the way up to and over 8,000 mpg.
The Eco-marathon has multiple categories, and the UrbanConcept space - which features bigger vehicles that often have a bit of fun with style, like the Back To The Future DeLorean from St. Pauls School pictured above, which only got 72.4 mpg - was won by Mater Dei High School from Evansville, IN with 901.48 mpg. There were also a handful of hydrogen-powered vehicles, with the winner's crown going to the University of Colorado Denver with a score of 37.37 m/kWh. The Prototype battery-powered EV category was won by the Université de Sherbrooke from Quebec, Canada, with 202 m/kWh. The diesel-powered Prototype category was won by Sullivan High School from Sullivan, IN with a score of 1,899.32 mpg
There is more, including a video, below. Next year, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas will leave its home in Texas for the past five years and head north to Detroit. Will the Canadians do as well when they're closer to home?
The Eco-marathon has multiple categories, and the UrbanConcept space - which features bigger vehicles that often have a bit of fun with style, like the Back To The Future DeLorean from St. Pauls School pictured above, which only got 72.4 mpg - was won by Mater Dei High School from Evansville, IN with 901.48 mpg. There were also a handful of hydrogen-powered vehicles, with the winner's crown going to the University of Colorado Denver with a score of 37.37 m/kWh. The Prototype battery-powered EV category was won by the Université de Sherbrooke from Quebec, Canada, with 202 m/kWh. The diesel-powered Prototype category was won by Sullivan High School from Sullivan, IN with a score of 1,899.32 mpg
There is more, including a video, below. Next year, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas will leave its home in Texas for the past five years and head north to Detroit. Will the Canadians do as well when they're closer to home?
Université Laval reclaims top spot after tight race with rival University of Toronto
28 Apr 2014
HOUSTON – After a nail-biting weekend of Université Laval and University of Toronto vying for the best mileage in the last Shell Eco-marathon Americas to take place in Houston, Université Laval's Alérion Supermileage team ultimately took top honors with an impressive achievement of 2,824 miles per gallon (mpg). With that kind of mileage, the Alérion Supermileage vehicle could travel from Houston all the way to Detroit – host city for Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2015 – on less than a half gallon of fuel.
Though Université Laval has dominated the competition five of the previous six years, they were almost dethroned by the University of Toronto due to some surprising friction problems that developed in the Laval team's vehicle's electrical system. Ultimately, however, the team overcame the obstacles and brought home the top $2,000 prize once again.
"Our team is very excited with the results of the weekend," said team captain Audrey Lainé. "Initially we had issues with our engine, but we came together as a team to fix it and are extremely satisfied. The University of Toronto and Mater Dei High School had very close scores to our team, which made the weekend even more exciting."
In the UrbanConcept category, Mater Dei High School from Evansville, Indiana, achieved a solid 901.48 mpg with its gasoline vehicle Elroy, breaking its previous record of 849 mpg and scoring the top prize of $2,000 for the UrbanConcept category for the third year in a row. The school's other entry, a Prototype battery electric vehicle, captured that energy category with 537.16 miles per kilowatt-hour (m/kWh).
Other top achievements included:
- Prototype diesel: The No Spark Plug Allowed team from Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Indiana, set a new record achieving 1,899.32 mpg with their vehicle Black Diesel.
- Prototype ethanol: The Tatonkatoo team from the University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, achieved 1,771.37 mpg with their vehicle Tatonkatoo.
- Prototype hydrogen: The UCDenver team from University of Colorado Denver in Denver, Colorado, achieved 37.37 m/kWh with their vehicle Archetype.
"We look at Shell Eco-marathon as a way to spark a passion for engineering among young people, as well as fuel the conversation around future energy challenges," said Wolfgang Warnecke, Shell Chief Scientist Mobility. "Each year we see new technologies that have been developed by these bright young minds, and we hope someday to see these innovations make their way into everyday vehicles."
Tech Advances Galore
Over its 30 various "editions," Shell Eco-marathon has seen radical changes in car design and the use of new technologies. For example, this year's electric-battery vehicle of Saint Thomas Academy of Mendota Heights, Minnesota, sported a 3D-printed steering wheel that the team designed to improve upon its previous touchscreen steering wheel. Team captain Ian Nichols noted that the 3D-printed wheel includes a button for radio communication between the driver and the rest of the team, as well as an easily accessible throttle near the top right of the wheel.
St. Paul's School from Covington, Louisiana, created the seat in its UrbanConcept diesel vehicle Indy, inspired by Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, by creating it from kombucha, a vegetable leather grown from yeast, sugar water and bacteria. Team member Marcus Garner said the team wanted to build fuel-efficient vehicles that incorporate natural materials and are also visually appealing.
Other technical advances included an entirely student-designed computer system developed by the Cedarville University team that measures factors like wind resistance and wheel speed in order to provide the team with real-time data to guide their driving strategy. Additionally, Rice University's vehicle, Alpha Centuria, was made to be ultra-lightweight with carbon fiber and composite materials, and Brazil's Universidade Federal de Itajuba team added solar panels this year to make its electric battery vehicle even more energy efficient.
Ingenuity, Flexibility are Key
Anything can happen with the vehicles, so teams must be ready to react and move quickly on alterations, or come up empty-handed. The team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign learned, just nine days before the start of the competition, that its UrbanConcept hydrogen vehicle, EcoConcept, would not start due to a broken fuel cell. A last-minute decision was made to switch the vehicle to a gasoline-powered engine, a major challenge because the team's only experience was on hydrogen engines. They completed the changeover Saturday night during the competition but, despite their best efforts, couldn't complete a run this year.
Goodbye Houston, Hello Detroit
This year marked the eighth edition of Shell Eco-marathon Americas and the fifth year in Houston. The students will now gear up to take the Motor City by storm April 10-12, 2015. To drum up excitement for next year's event, Sullivan High School's winning vehicle will be displayed in Detroit's Henry Ford museum, and will be transported there by fuel efficiency expert Wayne Gerdes in the back of a 2014 RAM 1500 Laramie Limited using a new test market pilot fuel: Shell Diesel FiT.
New global partners HP, Michelin, The Linde Group and Southwest Research Institute assisted the student engineers by offering expertise, products and collaborative opportunities. The new partners added considerable value to the event, particularly with regard to innovation, technology, sustainability, mobility and tackling future energy challenges.
For more information on all 2014 events across the globe, including the complete Americas 2014 roster, schedule and official rules, please visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at www.shell.com/ecomarathon.
About Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies in more than 70 countries. We deliver a diverse range of energy solutions and petrochemicals to customers worldwide. These include transporting and trading oil and gas, marketing natural gas, producing and selling fuel for ships and planes, generating electricity and providing energy efficiency advice.
We also produce and sell petrochemical building blocks to industrial customers globally, and we are investing in making renewable and lower-carbon energy sources competitive for large-scale use. In the U.S., we operate in 50 and employ more than 20,000 people delivering energy in a responsible manner.
About Shell Eco-marathon
Shell Eco-marathon is a global program that challenges high school and college student teams to design, build and test the most energy-efficient vehicles. With annual events in the Americas, Europe and Asia, this innovation competition pushes future scientists and engineers to travel the farthest distance using the least amount of energy. Visit www.shell.com/ecomarathon/americas to learn more about this program.
INQUIRIES:
Shell Media Line: +1 (713) 241-4544
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this press release refer to companies in which Royal Dutch Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly controlled entities". In this press release, associates and jointly controlled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect (for example, through our 23% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''will'', ''seek'', ''target'', ''risks'', ''goals'', ''should'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this press release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2013 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov).
These factors also should be considered by the reader.
Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release, April 28, 2014.
Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.
We use certain terms in this press release that SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.
28 Apr 2014
HOUSTON – After a nail-biting weekend of Université Laval and University of Toronto vying for the best mileage in the last Shell Eco-marathon Americas to take place in Houston, Université Laval's Alérion Supermileage team ultimately took top honors with an impressive achievement of 2,824 miles per gallon (mpg). With that kind of mileage, the Alérion Supermileage vehicle could travel from Houston all the way to Detroit – host city for Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2015 – on less than a half gallon of fuel.
Though Université Laval has dominated the competition five of the previous six years, they were almost dethroned by the University of Toronto due to some surprising friction problems that developed in the Laval team's vehicle's electrical system. Ultimately, however, the team overcame the obstacles and brought home the top $2,000 prize once again.
"Our team is very excited with the results of the weekend," said team captain Audrey Lainé. "Initially we had issues with our engine, but we came together as a team to fix it and are extremely satisfied. The University of Toronto and Mater Dei High School had very close scores to our team, which made the weekend even more exciting."
In the UrbanConcept category, Mater Dei High School from Evansville, Indiana, achieved a solid 901.48 mpg with its gasoline vehicle Elroy, breaking its previous record of 849 mpg and scoring the top prize of $2,000 for the UrbanConcept category for the third year in a row. The school's other entry, a Prototype battery electric vehicle, captured that energy category with 537.16 miles per kilowatt-hour (m/kWh).
Other top achievements included:
- Prototype diesel: The No Spark Plug Allowed team from Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Indiana, set a new record achieving 1,899.32 mpg with their vehicle Black Diesel.
- Prototype ethanol: The Tatonkatoo team from the University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, achieved 1,771.37 mpg with their vehicle Tatonkatoo.
- Prototype hydrogen: The UCDenver team from University of Colorado Denver in Denver, Colorado, achieved 37.37 m/kWh with their vehicle Archetype.
"We look at Shell Eco-marathon as a way to spark a passion for engineering among young people, as well as fuel the conversation around future energy challenges," said Wolfgang Warnecke, Shell Chief Scientist Mobility. "Each year we see new technologies that have been developed by these bright young minds, and we hope someday to see these innovations make their way into everyday vehicles."
Tech Advances Galore
Over its 30 various "editions," Shell Eco-marathon has seen radical changes in car design and the use of new technologies. For example, this year's electric-battery vehicle of Saint Thomas Academy of Mendota Heights, Minnesota, sported a 3D-printed steering wheel that the team designed to improve upon its previous touchscreen steering wheel. Team captain Ian Nichols noted that the 3D-printed wheel includes a button for radio communication between the driver and the rest of the team, as well as an easily accessible throttle near the top right of the wheel.
St. Paul's School from Covington, Louisiana, created the seat in its UrbanConcept diesel vehicle Indy, inspired by Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, by creating it from kombucha, a vegetable leather grown from yeast, sugar water and bacteria. Team member Marcus Garner said the team wanted to build fuel-efficient vehicles that incorporate natural materials and are also visually appealing.
Other technical advances included an entirely student-designed computer system developed by the Cedarville University team that measures factors like wind resistance and wheel speed in order to provide the team with real-time data to guide their driving strategy. Additionally, Rice University's vehicle, Alpha Centuria, was made to be ultra-lightweight with carbon fiber and composite materials, and Brazil's Universidade Federal de Itajuba team added solar panels this year to make its electric battery vehicle even more energy efficient.
Ingenuity, Flexibility are Key
Anything can happen with the vehicles, so teams must be ready to react and move quickly on alterations, or come up empty-handed. The team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign learned, just nine days before the start of the competition, that its UrbanConcept hydrogen vehicle, EcoConcept, would not start due to a broken fuel cell. A last-minute decision was made to switch the vehicle to a gasoline-powered engine, a major challenge because the team's only experience was on hydrogen engines. They completed the changeover Saturday night during the competition but, despite their best efforts, couldn't complete a run this year.
Goodbye Houston, Hello Detroit
This year marked the eighth edition of Shell Eco-marathon Americas and the fifth year in Houston. The students will now gear up to take the Motor City by storm April 10-12, 2015. To drum up excitement for next year's event, Sullivan High School's winning vehicle will be displayed in Detroit's Henry Ford museum, and will be transported there by fuel efficiency expert Wayne Gerdes in the back of a 2014 RAM 1500 Laramie Limited using a new test market pilot fuel: Shell Diesel FiT.
New global partners HP, Michelin, The Linde Group and Southwest Research Institute assisted the student engineers by offering expertise, products and collaborative opportunities. The new partners added considerable value to the event, particularly with regard to innovation, technology, sustainability, mobility and tackling future energy challenges.
For more information on all 2014 events across the globe, including the complete Americas 2014 roster, schedule and official rules, please visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at www.shell.com/ecomarathon.
About Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies in more than 70 countries. We deliver a diverse range of energy solutions and petrochemicals to customers worldwide. These include transporting and trading oil and gas, marketing natural gas, producing and selling fuel for ships and planes, generating electricity and providing energy efficiency advice.
We also produce and sell petrochemical building blocks to industrial customers globally, and we are investing in making renewable and lower-carbon energy sources competitive for large-scale use. In the U.S., we operate in 50 and employ more than 20,000 people delivering energy in a responsible manner.
About Shell Eco-marathon
Shell Eco-marathon is a global program that challenges high school and college student teams to design, build and test the most energy-efficient vehicles. With annual events in the Americas, Europe and Asia, this innovation competition pushes future scientists and engineers to travel the farthest distance using the least amount of energy. Visit www.shell.com/ecomarathon/americas to learn more about this program.
INQUIRIES:
Shell Media Line: +1 (713) 241-4544
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this press release refer to companies in which Royal Dutch Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly controlled entities". In this press release, associates and jointly controlled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect (for example, through our 23% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''will'', ''seek'', ''target'', ''risks'', ''goals'', ''should'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this press release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2013 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov).
These factors also should be considered by the reader.
Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release, April 28, 2014.
Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.
We use certain terms in this press release that SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.
More Information
Featured Gallery Shell Eco-Marathon Americas 2014
View 42 Photos
Sign in to post
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Continue