Driving towards sustainability: students develop energy-efficient cars

Teams from K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management will display their prototypes at a competition in Bengaluru

Gearing up: K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering’s team with their car; (right) students of Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management working on their prototype.

Teams from two city colleges have developed car prototypes that could help reduce carbon emissions as part of their preparations for the Shell Eco-marathon.

K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering’s team ETA and Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management’s team PINAKA NMIMS will be in Bengaluru from Tuesday to Friday to attend the competition at Shell Technology Centre Bengaluru l (STCB).

A 14-member team, ETA has designed a single-cylinder 80-cc gasoline engine that drives a single rear wheel through a centrifugal clutch, a chain and sprocket system. Using this mechanism, the team aims to deliver a mileage of 200 kmpl.

They will be participating under the gasoline category, and will compete to design, build, test and drive the most energy efficient vehicle. The vehicle’s design is inspired by the way a raindrop moves through the atmosphere when falling from the sky. The rear of the vehicle is narrower than the front, making for minimal air drag by reducing flow separation. It is built completely from carbon fibre, which contributes to its light weight.

‘Fossil fuels here to stay’

“We have developed the prototype and if worked upon intensely, this vehicle can even be implemented at a production level and be made compatible for mass-market production,” said Cherag Mevawala, the team’s captain. He said although many people are jumping on to the electric bandwagon, fossil fuels are going to stay around in the automobile industry and I.C. engines will be in use at least for the next few decades.

“Hence it is important to focus on improving the engine’s performance instead of just neglecting it or stating that they have reached their maximum stage of development. That’s why we aim to build a gasoline-driven vehicle that can provide maximum mileage,” Cherag, a final-year engineering student, said. The team worked for three years to develop the prototype, which was built on the college campus itself.

Meanwhile, PINAKA NMIMS from Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management, Shirpur campus, is making its debut with its prototype in the gasoline category.

Led by 19-year-old Bhavya Bharat Desai, a third-year mechanical engineering student, the team considers nature as their true mentor and has taken inspiration from airfoils for their vehicle design. This helps their car to cut through the air, giving it an ergonomically robust and aesthetic design while being cost-efficient. The prototype is expected to provide a mileage of over 180 kmpl to their one-seater, three-wheeler car.

“We have used the concept of circular economy to deliver the prototype of the car at a cost of ₹2.85 lakh. It was developed on our Shirpur campus in nine months, including the ideating process. The car has been shipped to Bengaluru. We are the second team from the State to have achieve this skill and we are very proud of that,” said Bhavya, who conceived the idea and put in place the team to develop the prototype.

Being from Mumbai, he found it easy to travel around the city and source components for the car.

The team also had two mentors from among their faculty who guided them and supported the project.

Shell Eco-marathon, a part of Make the Future Live India, is the world’s longest-running student competition. It is held in several countries around the globe and aims to provide an opportunity for engineering students to build, test and drive their energy-efficient vehicles, which can contribute to clean energy solutions for the world.

Judging criteria

Student teams that take to the track will be evaluated on the basis of who covers the greatest distance using the least amount of energy.

The first edition of Make the Future India witnessed enthusiastic performance by the student teams. In 2018, team DTU Supermileage claimed victory in the internal combustion engine urban concept category by achieving a mileage of 154 kmpl, which is the equivalent of driving from Chennai to Pondicherry on 1 litre of fuel.

On the other hand, Team Averera from IIT-BHU achieved an astounding 362.5 km/kWh in the prototype battery electric category, which is the equivalent of driving from Chennai to Bengaluru on a single unit of electricity.