Students of the UDA will participate for the second time in the Shell Eco Marathon

The School of Automotive Engineering and Electronic Engineering have joined to participate again in the Shell Eco Marathon competition in California, United States, at the end of April.

This initiative dates back to the 2014 year when Francisco Torres, a professor at the School of Automotive Engineering, saw in the framework of the Master's Degree in Vehicular Systems the possibility of creating an electrical prototype to participate in the Shell Eco Marathon competition of the 2016. 

That year the group formed by 25 members -between teachers and students- participated in the test that took place in the city of Detroit, where they obtained a recognition despite competing with the best universities in the world.

"The project started with the motivation of the students to create a vehicle, the object was not clear, but thanks to the competition it was created and it helped us to compete and learn more and more, perfecting the errors that are presented" commented Professor Torres.

Shell holds annual competitions in Europe, Asia and America and the test is to travel the largest number of kilometers on a given track with the least amount of electrical energy possible.

In recent months the University team has worked to improve the optimization of the aluminum chassis, the steering system and the brakes of the UDA vehicle.

The objective that the students have proposed is to show the citizens that with the technology that is available locally, a vehicle can be made that can be participating in international competitions.

The entrance to the competition requires the fulfillment of some variables; The first consists of a description of the characteristics of the vehicle and the composition of the equipment. In later phases the vehicle is shown to be working.

In the April competition the UDA vehicle will be driven by Michell Morocho, student of the School of Automotive Engineering.