NUST team selected for ecomarathon in France

Islamabad

For the first time, a team of students from National University of Science and Technology called NUST Ecomotive has been selected for the Shell Ecomarathon (SEM) to be held in France in June.

The SEM is held thrice every year in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and as many as 200 teams from all over the world take part in it.

The Team Manager, Shahzad Ahmad, a student studying in the School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (SMME) at NUST, said that they had been planning to take this initiative for quite some time, but due to a lack of funds, nothing was able to materialize until earlier this year.

After a series of setbacks and a lot of hard work, the team finally managed to build their very own vehicle that is to compete in the marathon, complete with an aluminium chassis, and an ultra-light, robust carbon fibre body. The team has modelling experts Mobasil and Azaan, who are responsible for the designing and fabrication of the aerodynamic body of the car, with its crisp edges and smooth finish.

The ultra light aluminium chassis structure was designed and assembled by Haris Shahzad and Muhammad Owais, and the safety gadgets and instrumentation were installed by the electronics pros Omar Ikram, Talha Zafar and Iqtadar Khan.

Additional features of the car include a dead man’s switch, a collision avoidance system, and an Eco-assist system. To top it all off, team NUST Ecomotive got the clever idea to get the car painted in the traditional Pakistani truck art, which is the most distinctive feature of the vehicle and makes it stand out beautifully.

They have also recruited a handful of motivated individuals, who are on the hunt for sponsors to provide the necessary funds for the trip.

As global warming and environmental damage are becoming graver threats to life on earth by the day, the need for environment-friendly transportation is becoming a matter of greater concern now more than ever, because statistics show that a great chunk (as much as 30%) of the total greenhouse gases produced are emitted by cars.

In an effort to combat these threats in the future, Shell has come up with the Shell Ecomarathon that gives a chance to students to come forth with innovative ideas in the shape of self-designed and self-built vehicles that compete with each other in the ultimate battle of energy-efficiency.

Each team is judged on how far its vehicle can travel on one litre of fuel and ultimately, the team with the most fuel efficient car takes home the prize.