3D printed car to participate in Drivers' World Championship Asia

Source: Shell. Team NTU Singapore 3D Printed Car from the Nanyang Technological University (top lane, left) will compete as a finalist at the Drivers’ World Championship Asia on 19 March.

The UrbanConcept competition at Make the Future Singapore 2017 and the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2017 has crowned Team Sadewa from Indonesia for going the furthest on the least amount of energy. Competing with innovative vehicles resembling modern cars, Team Sadewa beat 122 teams from across the region with a record 375km/l for the UrbanConcept category in Asia.

“With each edition of Shell Eco-marathon Asia, we are encouraged by the quality of thinking displayed by the students, as well as their openness in embracing innovations and energy types,” said Norman Koch, GM, Shell Eco-marathon. “We congratulate the UrbanConcept teams who have set new mileage records this year – and look forward to seeing the top teams participate in the first-ever Drivers’ World Championship Asia tomorrow.”

Five Singapore student teams took part in the UrbanConcept Category, with four out of five teams – Team SUTD EV Club from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Team NUS ELECTRIC ECO CAR from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Team Hotshot from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and Team ElectroLiTE from Institute of Technical Education – participating in Shell Eco-marathon Asia for the first time.

Team Manager Fu Shenluo of Team SUTD EV Club said: “We had to build our car from scratch without any prior knowledge, experience or resources, unlike some of the other teams whose schools have previously participated in the competition. We had to rework our vehicle through trial and error, but we are very proud of how the car turned out eventually. Being able to qualify for the on-track race is already an achievement, and we aim to come back stronger in future editions of Shell Eco-marathon Asia.”

Team NTU Singapore 3D-Printed Car, participating in this competition for the eighth time, clocked sixth place in the UrbanConcept Battery Electric category with an improved mileage of 84 km/kWh this year, up from 77 km/kWh in 2016.

“Given that we are almost a completely fresh team, we felt the pressure to do well in this competition. It has been a tough fight – although we received guidance from past NTU students participating in Shell Eco-marathon Asia, we still faced some unexpected challenges along the way that tested our problem-solving skills. The competition is certainly not easy but we are determined to do our best and will bring the same team spirit to the Drivers’ World Championship Asia tomorrow,” said Richmond Ten, Team Manager of Team NTU Singapore 3D-Printed Car.

The Drivers’ World Championship Asia will see 11 other teams compete in a head-to-head race to be the fastest and most energy-efficient driver in the region. The teams are:

• Team Sadewa; Indonesia
• ITS Team 2; Indonesia
• GARUDA UNY ECO TEAM; Indonesia
• Bengawan Team 2; Indonesia
• Team Cikal Ethanol; Indonesia
• DLSU Eco Car Team – I.C.E; Philippines
• Team LH – EST; Vietnam
• Team Dagisik UP; Philippines
• Nogogeni ITS Team 1; Indonesia
• Team KOOKMIN RACING; South Korea
• Team EnduroKiwis; New Zealand

Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Singapore visited the festival and commented: “With climate change being a key concern in Singapore, events like Shell's Make the Future Singapore provide us with real and innovative examples of how we can continue to meet our growing energy demand in a carbon-constrained world.

"Every Singaporean can and must play a part in our fight against global climate change and this festival offers a great and exciting opportunity for everyone to experience these solutions firsthand. On this note, I am truly heartened to see students being engaged and collaborative in this effort to build a more sustainable world.”

Make the Future Singapore is a festival of ideas and innovations for Asia that supports bright energy ideas and provides a platform for innovation, collaboration and conversation about the global energy challenge. The inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Malaysia in 2010, up until 2013. The event was held in Manila, Philippines from 2014 to 2016 and moved to Singapore as part of the Make the Future festival for the first time in 2017.

Shell Eco-marathon is a global competition that challenges students to push the boundaries of energy efficiency on the road. The competition provides an arena for students to test vehicles they design and build themselves. It aims to inspire young people to become scientists and engineers of the future.

The last day of Make the Future Singapore 2017 and Shell Eco-marathon Asia will see the remaining four Singapore teams taking part in the final leg of the mileage competition in the Prototype category.

Interested?

Register for free tickets to the event, which is held at the Changi Exhibition Centre and ends on March 19.

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