Imagine driving almost 900 kilometres on one litre of gas.
A U of T Engineering student team is hoping to do just that at the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Challenge in Houston, Texas in early April. The aptly named University of Toronto Supermileage Team will be racing its 90-pound, 1.3 horsepower vehicle – powered by a Honda leafblower motor – against teams representing other universities from Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States.
The annual event challenges students to compete with other schools in their energy-efficient vehicles to see who can travel the farthest distance using the least amount of energy.
The teams will be competing for a variety of prizes in categories such as eco-design, safety, technical innovation, team spirit and perseverance in the face of adversity. U of T’s car, called Journey 1, will be driven by Monika Torio (EngSci 1T3+PEY).
“I’m really pumped up about driving the car,” Torio said as the team demonstrated the car at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) in North York. “At first I was very nervous about getting into something we hadn’t done before. But after getting to know these people and how committed they were to the team, I knew I really wanted to help build and drive this car.”
Team co-president Jonathan Hamway (MechE 1T3+PEY) said the team has been working on the car for about 18 months. “It’s been mostly design work because this is the first time we’ve ever done this so we had to start from scratch.” He said working on the car has given the team members practical experience to go along with the theory they learn in their coursework. “That practical component is an essential part of an engineering education.”
He said working on the car has been difficult because several of the 10 team members – including both Torio and himself – are in their Professional Experience Year, working at full-time jobs right now. “We can usually get together only on weekends. It’s hard to get everybody here at the same time.”
But he’s confident they’ll do well in Houston. “This is a better car than any team has ever built at U of T, because we have the best people working on the car.”
MIE Professor David Sinton, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, echoes that confidence.
“The University of Toronto Supermileage Team is a group of bright, hard-working students who are passionate about energy efficiency in transportation,” he said. “Their work in preparation for the competition has been a ‘supermileage’ effort in itself, requiring high output in the context of resource constraints. Time is tight but they are pulling the elements together.”
For more information, please see the Shell Eco-Marathon Challenge website.
