Asia 2016

Shell Eco-marathon Asia returns to the streets of Manila for the third and last time in 2016. Held at the Luneta Street Circuit on March 3 to 6, 2016, the track covered the streets around Burnham Green and a portion of Roxas Boulevard to give the teams a chance to see how their cars would perform on city roads. The organizers also setup an attraction in the area to introduce visitors to new and sustainable concepts for energy generation and efficiency.

For this year, Shell introduced a new competition, the Driver’s World Championship, which complements their Mileage Challenge by getting the top UrbanConcept teams for the three energy classes, Battery-electric, ICE, and Hydrogen, from the three regions together in Shell Eco-marathon Europe to view for the title.

A total of 117 student teams from Asia, Australia, and the Middle East participated in this year’s event with 28 comprising the contingent from the Philippines. DLSU fielded two representative teams, DLSU Eco Car Team – Battery Electric and DLSU Eco Car Team – I.C.E., for this year’s event.

Learning from the lessons of the last competition, the team greatly developed their two vehicles, the electric-powered Archer and the gasoline car Delta. Billing them during the university launch event a month before the competition as “all new” and “all better,” the car bodies were modified to be lighter which would improve its mileage. The systems installed on both cars, especially on the electric one, were made more durable to be able to withstand the rough conditions of the road around Luneta.

The competition for the top battery electric UrbanConcept was highly contested this year as the teams were able to refine and improve their systems after the hard lessons of the 2015 season. On its first run, Archer set the highest record in its category. Other teams were able to catch on and set records that were too close for comfort but no one was able to topple the DLSU’s car.

On the other hand, Delta, the top gasoline car last year was able to set the best record early in the competition after issues with its engine were sorted out. It later slid into second place when at the last minute after another team set a record double that of Delta.

Being the team with the highest mileage for its category, DLSU Eco Car Team – Battery Electric was invited to participate in the London competition. This makes the team the first in the Philippines to compete in this event.