Quest for excellence powers Pinoy eco-marathon teams

MANILA, Philippines - From the highly successful staging of Shell Eco-marathon Asia for the very first time in Manila in February this year, the Filipino contingent of student teams from various engineering colleges and universities are already gearing up for more achievements in next year’s run which will be held in the country anew.

Shell’s annual competition encouraging young engineers from all over the world in creating and running fuel-efficient vehicles of the future has definitely inspired young Filipino engineers to support this advocacy toward sustainable mobility, leading to a record number of 34 teams from 25 schools across the country — 16 of which are first-time entrants.

Serving as an example to these neophyte Filipino teams are the some of the pioneer, award-winning schools in Shell Eco-marathon Asia, such as the De La Salle University (DLSU). 

 “We always put our 100 percent in this competition,” says Carlo de Guzman, a member of the DLSU Eco Car Team that co-won the “Perseverance and Spirit of the Event” off-track award in the landmark Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2014.

DLSU shares the award with the Team MIT Eco-Warriors of the Madras Institute of Technology from India, after an interesting occurrence during the race that displayed camaraderie despite the serious competition among the students. It also illustrated that DLSU’s determination and drive to excel applies not only to their own school, but even in helping other teams achieve theirs.

 “When the Indian team’s prototype car was held at the customs office in Singapore, the team did not hesitate to lend their prototype car, DLSU 100,” recalls De Guzman. The vehicle was DLSU’s entry back in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2011. The DLSU team also assisted their Indian counterparts in securing vehicle parts in Manila, enabling them to produce a new vehicle entry in just two days.

The special award served as an icing on the cake, so to speak, to DLSU’s second-place finish in the Urban Concept–Battery Electric Category of the competition courtesy of their car Archer, which registered a mileage of 66.4 kilometers per kilowatt-hour.

 “We spent overnights at school working on the car. Even on holidays and weekends, we dedicated our free time on fabricating it,” declares De Guzman.

To provide convenience to the driver and to achieve the best fuel efficiency, the team installed an Android application that gathers data on speed, throttle, power consumption, battery voltage and current acquired from the electrical system for the driver’s reference. The Archer is also equipped with a telemetry system and custom-made battery management system. The same electronic features, which ensure the best energy efficiency possible, won for DLSU the Technical Innovation Award in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2012 held in Malaysia.

Another high-achieving, pioneer Filipino school participant in Shell Eco-marathon Asia is the Mapua Institute of Technology, one of the premier engineering academic institutions in the country. “Ever since Mapua’s team bagged the Safety Award in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2010, we have always aimed for recognition,” says Jim Robert Guibani, team manager and chief mechanic of the school’s Team Cardinals.

As such, Mapua’s Team Amihan in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2011 won second place in the Safety Award. It was Team Atlanta that won second place in Safety Award in 2010.

While the current Team Cardinals did not win any award this year, its car dubbed Aguila placed fifth p in the on-track competition, registering a mileage of 158.6 kms per liter, passing rigorous technical and safety inspections by judges. Guibani still considers maintaining such level of consistency and performance as a valuable accomplishment for the team.

Among other innovations, Team Cardinals also used indigenous rattan components in constructing the Aguila car, not just to make it look unique and distinctive but also to demonstrate the possibilities of ecological-mechanical integration. The use of rattan helped increased the vehicle’s rigidity while at the same time minimizing weight, thus contributing to fuel efficiency, explains Guibani.

Indeed, young Filipino engineers are well on their way to achieving more and more success in Shell Eco-marathon Asia—with their one-of-a-kind and truly ingenious car creations blazing trails in the racetrack of smarter mobility.

The public can witness these Filipino inventions, as well as entries from 19 other entries across the region at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015, to be held in a specially constructed racetrack in Rizal Park in Manila from Feb. 25 to March 1.