Fuel Efficient Vehicle: An effort for a greener future

As the oil reserves deplete around the world, a team from SRM University, Chennai has taken up the challenge to develop high fuel efficiency vehicle. Seven students, from various departments of engineering teamed up to from 'Infieon Supermileage' to compete against the best teams from Asia in the prestigious Shell Eco Marathon- Asia in July, 2013.

 Shell Eco-marathon is a platform that challenges students to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient car. At three events around the world hundreds of team compete to travel the furthest on the least amount of energy. Some achieve distances equivalent to driving from Paris to Moscow (that's 2,485 km or 1,544 miles) on a single litre of fuel. The current highest international record is held by a team from Europe at 4900 kmpl.The competition is held in three places spanning all the continents including Americas, Europe and Asia. The Asian version takes place at the famous Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. The competition has stringent rules and regulations for higher safety which the vehicle needs to comply in order to get on the track for the event.

The team from SRM is led by a final year student Sandeep Ganesh who happens to be an automobile enthusiast. The team Infieon Supermileage will be using gasoline as its fuel. "The prototypes are three wheeled Vehicles delivering an ultra-high fuel efficiency due to a combination of aspects such as restricting the kerb weight up to 140kg to make the vehicle light, an aerodynamically aesthetic shell design, maintaining a constant speed(40km/hr) and a highly tuned engine, "claims Sandeep Ganesh.
The team consists of Sandeep Ganesh, Vivek Srinivas, Sayan Malakar, Shashank Rai, V. Ajith, Saurabh Srivastava and Rishabh Jain. The team which began in May 2012 has currently finished its vehicle and is undergoing rigorous testing before leaving to Malaysia later this June. The team sources its financial support primarily from the university and is looking forward to potential sponsors. "The team's primary targets are to compete in the competition building India's most fuel efficient prototype and to promote green driving through rigorous PR events and activities and educating the masses about fuel conservation and green driving." says Vivek, a team member.