Shell Eco-marathon

Key takeaways

Shell Eco-marathon belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Shell Eco-marathon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shell Eco-marathon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Shell Eco-marathon is a world-wide energy efficiency competition sponsored by Shell. Participants build automotive vehicles to achieve the highest possible fuel efficiency. There are two vehicle classes within Shell Eco-marathon: Prototype and UrbanConcept. There are three energy categories within Shell Eco-marathon: battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and internal combustion engine (gasoline, ethanol, or diesel). Prizes are awarded separately for each vehicle class and energy category. The pinnacle of the competition is the Shell Eco-marathon Drivers' World Championship, where the most energy-efficient UrbanConcept vehicles compete in a race with a limited amount of energy. Shell Eco-marathon competitions are held around the world with nine events as of 2018. The 2018 competition season includes events held in Singapore, California, Paris, London, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, India, and China. Participants are students from various academic backgrounds including university teams such as past finalists University of British Columbia, Duke University, University of Toronto, and University of California, Los Angeles. In 2018, over 5,000 students from over 700 universities in 52 countries participated in Shell Eco-marathon. The digital reach of Shell Eco-marathon is approximately several million.

History In 1939, a group of Shell scientists based in a research laboratory in Wood River, Illinois, USA, had a friendly bet to see who could drive their own car furthest on one gallon of fuel. The winner managed a fuel economy of 49.73 mpg‑US (4.730 L/100 km; 59.72 mpg‑imp). A repeat of the challenge yielded dramatically improved results over the years:

149.95 mpg‑US (1.5686 L/100 km; 180.08 mpg‑imp) with a 1947 Studebaker in 1949 244.35 mpg‑US (0.9626 L/100 km; 293.45 mpg‑imp) with a 1959 Fiat 600 in 1968 376.59 mpg‑US (0.62459 L/100 km; 452.27 mpg‑imp) with a 1959 Opel in 1973. During the 1980s, a Canadian version of the competition was called the 'Shell Fuelathon', with competitions in Oakville, Ontario Canada. The current record is 9,750 km/L (27,500 mpg‑imp; 22,900 mpg‑US), set in 2011 by the Polytechnic University of Milan's prototype Apollo. The world record in Diesel efficiency was achieved by a team from the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (Politechnical University of Valencia, Spain) in 2010 with 1396.8 kilometres per litre. In contrast, the most efficient production Diesel passenger cars achieve 60 mpg‑US (4 L/100 km; 72 mpg‑imp), and some high-powered sports cars achieve as little as 8 mpg‑US (29 L/100 km; 10 mpg‑imp). The current European Shell Eco-marathon record for a combustion engine entry was set in 2004 by the team from Lycée La Joliverie (France) at 3,410 km on the equivalent of a single litre of fuel. Prototype vehicles using fuel cells are capable of greater energy efficiency. In 2005, a hydrogen-powered vehicle built by Swiss team ETH Zurich achieved a projected 3,836 km on the equivalent of a single litre of fuel. This is equivalent to the distance between Paris and Moscow. In 2013, ethanol efficiency world record was set by Toulouse Ingenerie Multidisciplinarie with 3100 km of a single litre of ethanol. This is equivalent to the distance between Toulouse and Istanbul. In 2009, the entry from the Technical School at La Joliverie College, a car named "Microjoule," achieved 3,771 km per litre, or 0.02652 L/100 km. Microjoule also won the 2023 competition, but with a significantly lower efficiency of 2507.15 km/l.

Event The Eco-Marathon has different classes of competition, according to the energy source used: Fuel cells, solar cells, gasoline, Diesel fuel and LPG. During the competition, cars must attain an average speed of at least 15 mph (23 km/h) over a distance of 10 miles (16 km). The course is typically a motor racing track or closed-off city streets. The fuel is strictly measured out for each entrant at the start and end of the course. The difference is used to calculate the vehicle's average fuel consumption. Solar-powered vehicles are not eligible for the grand prize for fuel efficiency. In 2017, more than 100 student teams from many countries across the Americas competed in the Shell-Eco Marathon Americas to a crowd of over 20,000 throughout the competitions at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Entrants The top performing vehicles are purpose designed for high efficiency. Some vehicles use a coast and burn technique whereby they briefly accelerate from 10 to 20 mph (from 16 to 32 km/h) and then switch the engine off and coast until the speed drops back down to 10 mph (16 km/h). This process is repeated resulting in average speed of 15 mph for the course. Typically the vehicles have:

Automobile drag coefficients (Cd) below 0.1 Rolling resistance coefficients less than 0.0015 Weight without driver under 45 kg Engine efficiency under 200 specific fuel consumption (cc/bhp/hr) The vehicles are highly specialized and optimized for the event and are not intended for everyday use. The designs represent what can be achieved with current technology and offer a glimpse into the future of car design based on minimal environmental impact in a world with reduced oil reserves. The work of the participants can be used to show ways manufacturers could redesign their products.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shell Eco-marathon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shell Eco-marathon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Shell Eco-marathon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Shell Eco-marathon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Shell Eco-marathon

In research: Shell Eco-marathon appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Shell Eco-marathon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Shell Eco-marathon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 establishments in Illinois, Energy technology competitions, Green racing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shell Eco-marathon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Shell Eco-marathon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shell Eco-marathon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Shell Eco-marathon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shell Eco-marathon in simple terms?

Shell Eco-marathon is a world-wide energy efficiency competition sponsored by Shell. Participants build automotive vehicles to achieve the highest possible fuel efficiency.

Why does Shell Eco-marathon matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Shell Eco-marathon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Shell Eco-marathon.