High Schoolers Get 2,843 Miles Per Gallon

A team of high school students from Mater Dei High School of Evansville, Ind. built a small vehicle capable of traveling 2,843 miles on a single gallon of gas. As part of the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon, the oil company invited 32 high schools and 23 universities from the U.S., Canada and Mexico to compete in building the most fuel-efficient vehicle.

The cars look more like bobsleds, and the results were extrapolated from data gathered at the racetrack (the kids did not actually drive 2,843 miles), but nevertheless many involved in the competition saw this as an opportunity for innovation. With automakers trying to figure out how to get their fleets to 35 mpg by 2020 and the rest of the world concerned about rising fuel prices and climate change, the competition drives the urge to think outside the box and beyond petroleum.

Still, one has to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism when an oil company sponsors any event with the word "eco" in it. What do you think: honest attempt at spurring invention, or heavy-handed PR stunt? Check out the YouTube video after the jump.

High School Students Set New Fuel Economy Record (World Car Fans)

Comments

Both myself and my brothers took part in the UK version of this called Shell Mileage Marathon. it was great fun and really got us thinking about how to save weight and how best to maximize efficiency. We didn't come close to winning as we were a bunch of 14 year olds with a lawnmower engine (i think a college team paid for by Honda won) but we still got great mileage and learned a LOT about the role of weight and low rolling resistance in the process...

As an aside, we also learned the most important thing - that no matter how much we worked with making our car the best possible, all of it went out the window if the driver was too big. A fat driver ruined EVERYTHING in terms of all the tiny weightsavings we made.

A lesson there I think...

Driving those "cars" and riding a bicycle...
Bicycle wins.

Haven't you guys notice there are a lot more oil companies' ads on the TV lately promoting that they are actually spending money to develop alternative fuel?

Doesn't that sound like a drug dealer trying to make the lawmakers to pass bills that prohibits drug use?
Or, a tobaco company sponsored tobaco related health problem research?

Lol true dat J!

As this car shows, we just need to convince people to want to drive 15hp Fiat 500's and the mileage problem will be solved.

We drive larger cars to feel safe around all the other big cars on the road. We get all this horsepower for the 10 seconds we're merging onto a highway. We buy an SUV for weekends with the family but do most of our driving alone, commuting.

The fact is that, while public transit is best, we're still going to need cars for the infrastructure we've built and the convenience we expect. 90% of the driving we do, however, could be done just fine with smaller, slower cars.

I mean, why the heck do I need 150hp in my new Mazda3? I got by just fine with 90hp in my old Corolla, but Mazda only sells engines of that size in Europe. So instead I get 20 mpg in the city and never get the chance to accelerate.

It's crazy. If today's new cars just went back to the same hp to weight ratio they had in 1980, we would save a lot of gas, and still get where we needed to go.

I blame the car reviewers who are never happy with the ammount of power in a car.

Rob,
You blame us?! I think the automakers would point to consumers who when a new model year comes out they expect it to be "better" than the year before. Better often means more hp. I think now that may shift to mpg.

Although yeah, I'd rather test drive the new M3 than the new Corolla. Sorry.

I'm thrilled to see High School age young adults take part in such of an important research and developement event. You guys and gals Rock!

Everybody forgets those Mobilgas Economy Runs in the 1950s that pitted manufacturer against manufacturer to see who could eek out the most mileage in a controlled course.This did not lead to better gas mileage,all this led to was the 1960s and the musclecar era,and the era of massive engines and gas hogs.These economy runs just sorta disappeared about that time.While promoting fuel economy sounds like a worthy cause,fuel companies have never had the incentive to push for economy for real.If any of them had an automotive hall of fame,I'm sure K cars,Escorts,Falcons,and Civics would never be mentioned,but hogs like HUMMERS,GTOs,Hemi Chargers,and side-oiler Mustangs would sure to be represented in all their glory.

Dave,
That is because there are dumb consumers that makes up the majority.

For me, hp is pretty last on my list of consideration.