UP wins 2nd place in Shell Eco-marathon in Singapore

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / Joseph Nair for Shell

Team Dagisik UP of the University of the Philippines-Diliman won 2nd place in the UrbanConcept battery electric category in the recently concluded Shell Eco-marathon Asia in Singapore.

Dagisik’s energy-efficient vehicle posted a mileage result of 107 km/kWh, a point lower from that of Vietnam’s Lac Hong University which had the best record of 108 km/kWh. Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember of Indonesia placed third with a result of 100 km/kWh.

The eight students from UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute, led by King Marc Dimapilis on electronics and Johann Kenneth Alcantara on mechanics, bagged a prize of $2,000 (P100,400).

Team “Dagisik,” a Filipino term for electron, also emerged as champions in the same category during the local version of the Shell Eco-marathon held in Pampanga last month.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / Joseph Nair for Shell

Fifteen teams from 11 Philippine engineering schools competed against 109 teams from 19 other Asia-Pacific countries in this year’s Eco-marathon Asia, which gathered students to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient vehicles.

Each team must build one of two types of energy-efficient cars: the prototype, a futuristic and highly aerodynamic vehicle; or UrbanConcept, a highly economical and innovative vehicle that resembles present cars. Teams must aim for the highest mileage with the least amount of energy used.

The entries competed in three different categories based on selected energy source: internal combustion energy (gasoline, diesel, ethanol, gas to liquid fuel from natural gas or compressed natural gas); hydrogen fuel cell; and battery electric power.