Driven to compete
Published: October 19, 2012
Late in the evenings, after most students have trickled out of the Bahen Centre,the University of Toronto’s Supermileage team is just getting started.
“I got the tires!” announced fourth-year mechanical engineering student Michael Stranges, as his team members cheered. The team has spent the last six months designing a vehicle that’s fuel efficient enough to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2013.
Held annually around the world, the marathon challenges high school and university students to build a vehicle that can travel the farthest distance while using the least amount of energy.
The next Shell Eco-marathon Americas takes place in Houston, Texas, from April 5-7, 2013. And members of Supermileage, the first U of T team to ever participate in the competition, are confident they can beat last year’s record of 900 kilometres travelled per litre.
“The amount of time spent in the design stage of this project has allowed for us to investigate all possible alternatives for each individual system,” said third-year mechanical engineering Jonathan Hamway, the team’s co-president. “The end result is a design that’s been optimized in all aspects to minimize weight, energy loss and ultimately, fuel consumption.”
Hamway feels Supermileage’s biggest weapon is the the team itself. The group has brought together students from diverse engineering and technical backgrounds – from mechanical engineering, to engineering science, to materials science and electrical engineering.
It also helps that they’re being supervised by Associate Professor David Sinton, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy, and an expert in applying fluid mechanics to energy systems.
Because the competition pushes participants to design with sustainability in mind, it’s driving the engineering students to innovate by imagining a future of earth-friendly vehicles.
“[This competition] enables us to put our efforts to the test while changing public perception of what’s possible in designing for a greener future,” said Hamway.
To date, seven Canadian teams have registered to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2013, including teams from U of T, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta and three-time champions, Université Laval from Quebec.
