Energy Efficiency 101

MANILA, Philippines - Last month, the 2nd Shell Eco Marathon Asia was held in Sepang International Circuit (SIC), Malaysia. As you may recall, this competition was not about speed, but about creating energy-efficient vehicles that would travel the farthest distance on the least amount of fuel. Here, 94 student-teams from 12 countries all over Asia competed to win awards in different vehicle and fuel categories. It was then that several of the Philippines’ brightest youths from six different universities were sent to participate in the competition – to signify the country’s acknowledgment of the relevance of energy-efficiency in these times, and to showcase Filipino ingenuity.

A total of seven Philippine teams participated in the marathon, representing their respective schools: De La Salle University, Don Bosco Technical College, Mapua Institute of Technology, Technological Institute of the Philippines Manila, University of the Philippines Diliman and University of Santo Tomas.

Upon conclusion of the 2011 Shell Eco-Marathon Asia, Team UP emerged as the winner of the Diesel Fuel Award in the Urban Concept category. Their vehicle entry, which they named “Kidlat”, ran an impressive 59.9kms around SIC’s North Track on a single liter of fuel. Their team bagged a cash prize of USD $800 plus a trophy and well-deserved bragging rights.

In my attempt celebrate UP pride and to further understand the unique winning experience of these UP students, I decided to briefly chat with them and gather some insight on how they started the project and achieved this feat. When asked how they formed their team, they said, “Some of us were chosen because of our unique skills that were needed in building the vehicle; while some of us, because of our potential to continue this project in the following years. Most of our team members are either honor graduates, or candidates for honors – including UP’s first BS Mechanical Engineering Summa Cum Laude, Stanley Siahetiong.” (Yes, it is this difficult to graduate Summa Cum Laude in UPD’s College of Engineering – it is practically legendary!)

And since I was curious why they had chosen to join the Diesel fuel class of the Urban Concept category, they explained, “We chose this category because we wanted to build a car not only for the competition, but one that may already be of use to our fellow Filipinos. An Urban Concept car is packed with features that are very similar to the road vehicles that we see today.”

It took their team about six months to plan, design, fabricate, and eventually test and fully-optimize Kidlat. For most of the team’s members, this project was credited to them as an elective subject – while for some it was purely an extra-curricular activity.

Aside from having some really smart students, however, UP is also known to be a bit challenged whenever it comes to funding. When I asked how on earth Team UP was able to raise enough green to support the project, the team members fondly replied, “The dean of our college, Dr. Aura Matias, shared our enthusiasm in joining this competition. She promised to help us in finding a sponsor for this project. Fortunately, we were able to find the funding through the goodness of the people in Meralco, with the leadership of Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan. They provided us with all the support we needed to be able to perform well in this competition.” It is therefore, no coincidence that the vehicle Kidlat looks mighty familiar with that orange streak of lightning painted across its side.

Team UP’s Kidlat boasted of a hybrid drivetrain. They attempted to combine the advantages of both an electric car and a conventional diesel car to achieve maximum efficiency. “Perhaps most of the challenges we encountered stemmed from our team’s inexperience in most of the manufacturing tasks. Building a car is not easy. No matter how good your design is, on computer simulations, its actual performance is almost an entirely different matter,” said the team members. “However, we were able to overcome this challenge through teamwork, determination, and the desire to learn new things. During the event proper, we did not encounter any major malfunctions... Only some minor problems caused by the shipping of the vehicle to Malaysia,” they added. (Apparently, shipping project vehicles to another country poses risks such as rusting and spare parts damage.)

Another interesting bit that I gathered from the students was that during the competition, all Philippine teams, despite originating from different schools, no longer felt like they were competing with one another. “We shared our tools and spare parts,” explained Team UP. “Basically, any help needed by the other teams, we tried to provide, and we experienced the same from them. When we were there, we were all members of Team Philippines, representing our country more than our schools.”

And when asked to describe what it was like, to participate in the 2011 Shell Eco-Marathon, they simply said, “It was fun! We were really grateful that through this competition we were able to work and bond with some of the best students from the college. We had the chance to represent our school and our country, and interact with students from our Asian neighbors. Not everyone gets the chance to build an energy efficient car while bearing our country’s flag, so it’s really a great honor for us.”

Lastly, I asked Team UP if there was any advice they could give to future Filipino participants of the now-annual Shell Eco-Marathon Asia. Their reply was, “You must ensure the running reliability of your vehicle as early as possible, so you may focus more on increasing its efficiency and planning your driving strategy. Also, keep the design simple. More complications lead to greater chances that something will go wrong.”

And as I could not resist throwing in a classic Strangebrew question – knowing that their team used to patronize this now-defunct TV show – I asked them, “Sa tagal ninyong nag-compete sa Shell Eco Marathon, napa-ibig ba kayo sa sinuman mula sa ibang teams?” And they were quick to reply, “Hindi naman. Ngunit mukhang may napa-ibig sa amin! Hehehe.”

Long live our young Filipino scientists! Tama!