The aim of this competition is to find out who can cover the longest distance by using just 1 liter of fuel or 1 kWh electric energy. There were entries from as many as 178 teams from 28 countries altogether this year. Hungary was represented by three teams: besides Debrecen’s DE MK TEAM, students of Kandó Kálmán Szakközépiskola from Kecskemét and Széchenyi István Egyetem from Győr also tried their luck. All three entrants used electricity for powering their vehicles.
“This year, we entered the competition with a new engine and a new electronic control unit and, even if it was just a minimal improvement, we managed to move forward in the overall rankings,” said Tamás Antal Varga, the manager of the Debrecen team and an instructor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Debrecen.
According to the organizers, the results were significantly influenced by the exceptionally high temperature during the course of the event. It presented a great challenge for the participants to figure out how well they could adjust their vehicles and their individual technical solutions to the relatively warmer weather. Despite all this, the French students who entered the race in the category of urban concept managed to break a new world record by covering a distance corresponding to 658 kilometers by using 1 liter of fuel in their vehicle fitted with an internal combustion engine. This result served as an apt illustration of the support of the cause Shell Eco-marathon focuses upon: to inspire and challenge the engineers of the future to experiment with new ideas and developments in order to respond to the future challenges of energy efficiency.
“Our team is highly motivated, and we will be starting the preparations for next year’s competition as early as this summer so that we could achieve even better results by using the experience we have gathered so far,” said Tamás Mankovits, the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Members of the Debrecen team:
Students:
Dávid Balázs, Mechatronics Engineering BSc
Zoltán Dári, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Dániel Heuer, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Dóra Kabai, Technical Manager BSc
Dávid Kincses, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Viktória Ilona Kovács, Civil Engineering BSc
László Lemperger, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Attila Magyari, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Lajos Mezei, Mechanical Engineering MSc
Anikó Barbara Németh, Civil Engineering BSc
Dorottya Pajkos, Technical Manager Bsc
Lehel Pataki, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Hunor Péter Póta, Mechatronics Engineering BSc
Márk Bence Szeszák, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Krisztián Veszelszki, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Gábor Vida, Mechanical Engineering BSc
Teachers and instructors preparing the team:
Sándor Hajdu, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Tamás Mankovits, Department of Mechanical Engineering
András Gábora, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Antal Tamás Varga, Department of Mechanical Engineering
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