Two thousand kilometers with a liter of bioethanol

Two thousand kilometers with a liter of bioethanol

More than 220 teams from Europe and Africa compete in the Shell Eco-Marathon competition, a competition of superefficient vehicles that will try to travel as far as possible with a single liter of fuel of ecological origin

  Twenty Spanish teams will compete for the Shell Eco-Marathon, a super-efficient vehicle competition. The event, which will be held between May 15 and 18 in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), will face 224 teams from Europe and Africa. Each one will present a vehicle and try to travel 2,000 kilometers with a single liter of fuel.

The test consists of traveling an urban circuit at a speed never lower than 25 kilometers per hour, and until the fuel lasts. Although the goal is to reach 2,000 kilometers, it is still a roof that has never been reached.

  For the second year in a row, a team of students from the Miguel Hernández University (Elche) will compete in the category of bioethanol, a renewable fuel that is created from the remains of oleaginous plants such as sunflower or camelina, as the director explained today. of the vehicle project 'Dátil 14' and professor of Mechanical Engineering and Energy, Miguel Ángel Oliva, during the presentation.

'Dátil 14' has a weight of 38 kilograms and 3'20 meters long, 60 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters high, so the pilots go to ground level.

Fourteen students

The objective of this year is, according to Oliva, to reach a mark close to 2,000 kilometers with a liter of bioethanol, after the third place in 2013 in this category, year in which they managed to reach 1,162 kilometers, which allowed them to For the third consecutive year it will be the best Spanish team with combustion engines.

Throughout the academic year, 14 students of Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Industrial Technical Engineering specializing in Mechanics have been commissioned to implement various improvements compared to the vehicle of the previous year.

In particular, they have made small changes in the aerodynamics so that the lid will close better and they have designed an engine control system to manage it better.

The students in charge of driving the vehicle in Rotterdam will be the students Laura Sánchez and Ángela Cuenca. According to the latter, although it produces a sensation of "discomfort" driving lying down, with the helmet and the monkey, and a small space, then it is "fun" and a "unique" experience.

Together with the UMH team, this year a group of students of medium-level training cycles of the Salesianos College of Elche participates for the first time. It intends to travel 500 kilometers with 1 liter of gasoline in its 'Picudo 1.0'

Parallel to the preparation of the 'Shell Eco-Marathon', the students of the University of Elche have already begun the development of a new prototype for next year, the 'Date 911', due to changes in regulations that require vehicles to move from rear to front direction.