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The University of Southampton
Engineering

Taking fuel efficiency to its limits, students build a car for the future

Published: 4 May 2016

How far can you drive on the equivalent of one litre of fuel? Engineering undergraduate Andreas Zimmerman is leading a team of students to find out the answer. Twenty members of the Southampton University Electric Vehicles Society are working against a tight deadline to design and build their entry for the European final of the Shell Eco-marathon to be held between 30 June - 3 July in London.

“I’ve been interested in alternative technologies for years and have seized every opportunity to take part in competitions to learn more about what is possible and try to win,” he says.

Their battery-powered ultra-energy efficient prototype will compete against more than 200 other contenders and 3,000 students from universities from all around Europe at the former Olympic Park. Southampton’s students from Engineering and the Environment and Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) have been working in groups for months to develop the powertrain, chassis, aerodynamics as well as managing and publicising the project. They began by using 3D printing to build a model for testing in the University’s wind tunnel, and will start manufacturing the final version in late April.

“Getting the design right has been key,” says Andreas, who is studying BEng Mechanical Engineering. “Southampton engineers pride ourselves on our high standards and we have done our best to make our vehicle as aerodynamic as possible and weighing less than 120 kilos including the driver. We are going to use a specialist boat building facility at Southampton City College to source the mould for the final bodywork to make sure it's right for the job.”

Andreas founded the Electric Vehicle Society on arriving at Southampton. Working closely with him are MEng Aeronautics and Astronautics students Diogo Cardia Lopes, Michael Yu and Stefano Cinti.

“This has been an amazing project for us ,” he adds. “Not only are we all being challenged to get the engineering right so we stand a good chance of doing well in the contest, I have learned new skills in motivating and managing the team together with project planning, it’s just like running a real business.”

In the 2015 Shell Eco-marathon European competition, held in the Netherlands, the winning team from France achieved 2,551 km/litre, the distance between Rotterdam and Moscow, with a vehicle powered by compressed natural gas.

Follow the team’s progress on Facebook

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