Indonesian Teams Win in Shell Eco Marathon Asia

Surabaya. Teams from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) won in the Asia Pacific energy-saving car competition titled “Shell Eco Marathon Asia 2012” at Sepang, Malaysia on July 4-7.

With its “Sapu Angin” car model, the ITS team won the Alternative Diesel Fuel Award in “Urban Concept” category, the head of ITS Technical Engineering Department, Dr. Ir Bambang Pramujati MScEng PhD, said in his e-mail from Malaysia.

“Although the Sapu Angin 6 and Antasena 1 teams failed in the prototype class, the Sapu Angin 7 team competing in the Urban Concept category was able to come out as champion,” he said.

The team won the champion title after its car recorded an efficiency rate of 167 kilometers per liter at an optimal performance from the first to the last race.

In the Urban Category, the ITS team was able to beat fellow its Indonesian team from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) that could only reach of an efficiency rate of 149 kilometers per liter.

But a team from ITB won the Petrol (gasoline) Fuel Award, also in the Urban Concept category, with an efficiency rate of 196.3 kilometers per liter. Coming in second was a team from Sadewa Universitas Indonesia, which managed an efficiency rate of 152.3 kilometers per liter.

An ITB team also came in second for the Battery Electric Prize, after clocking in 74.9 kilometers per kWh, behind the Ngee Ann Polytechnic University team from Singapore, which registered 118.8 kilometers per kWh.

This is the third time that ITS has taken part in the annual competition. “What has made us proud is that the 167 kilometers per liter efficiency rate record is above the last record made in 2011, which was also made by an ITS team. At the time the ITS team could only record an efficiency rate of 150 kilometers per liter,” Bambang said.

Sapu Angin uses bio-diesel fuel, or FAME, which was a development for Sapu Angin 5. In several tests, the car was able to go up to 300 kilometers using only a liter of diesel fuel.

The Sapu Angin 6, which competed in the prototype class, weighs only 35 kilograms, lighter than the previous version’s 50 kg.

“The Sapu Angin 6 car that used gasoline and competed in the prototype class had initially been expected to be the Asian champion,” said the general manager of the ITS Sapu Angin 2012 team, Yoga Dwi Widagdo.

The Antasena car, which was just created by ITS students this year, uses hydrogen. The car, which also competed in the prototype class, is a new innovation from ITS’s Metallurgy Material Engineering students designed to become a green car.

This year 136 teams from 18 countries in Asia participated in the competition. Of the total, 91 took part in the prototype and 45 in the Urban Concept competitions.

Antara, JG