OVER 1,000 STUDENTS AT SEPANG TO PARTICIPATE IN
SHELL ECO-MARATHON ASIA 2012

Today, students from all over Asia and the Middle East have come together at Kuala Lumpur’s Sepang International Circuit to compete in Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2012. A total of 119 student teams have registered to take part in the challenge to see who has designed and built the region’s most fuel-efficient vehicle, from scratch.

Featuring teams from universities, colleges and technical institutes across 18 countries, Shell Eco-marathon Asia will run from today to July 7. The event which has been running in Europe since 1985 and in the Americas since 2007, is being held for the third time in Kuala Lumpur since it made its debut in Asia in 2010. Malaysia is also fielding the largest contingent this year with 28 teams. Five (5) new countries/territories will also be taking up the challenge this year: Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and South Korea.

“It is inspiring to see so many Asian youths coming together to take part in Shell Eco-marathon. These students will finally, in the coming few days, be able to test their vehicles and their innovations, which they have been working on for months, on the track. Shell Eco-marathon is more than just a student race or competition. It is about putting ideas into reality and by giving them this platform, we hope these students will be further encouraged to find creative and smarter mobility solutions to meet the world’s energy challenge today,” said Mavis Kuek, General Manager, Shell Eco-marathon Asia.

Student teams will participate in one or both of the Prototype and UrbanConcept categories and this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asia sees a total of 81 Prototype and 38 UrbanConcept vehicle entries from the region. The Prototype category invites student teams to enter futuristic cars – streamlined vehicles focused on maximising fuel-efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction. The UrbanConcept category focuses on more “roadworthy” fuel-efficient vehicles. Aimed at meeting the real-life needs of drivers, these vehicles are closer in appearance to the higher-mileage cars seen on roads today.

Team Bit Qat I from the Beijing Institute of Technology was the first team to register at the Sepang International Circuit for the competition. Their vehicle will run in the Prototype category, competing against other Prototype vehicles running on gasoline. “We built an entirely new vehicle, using only the lessons learnt by our predecessors to influence our own design. This vehicle here is the result of four months of hard work, and we are very excited to begin testing it on the track later today,” said Team Manager Yang Junwei.

In their quest to build the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible, students have free reign to exercise creativity in technical and design aspects, with the condition that entrants meet specific safety rules. Awards go to the teams that drove farthest on 1 kWh or 1 litre of fuel. Off-track performance in creativity, safety, design and marketing will also be recognised.

For both Prototype and UrbanConcept categories, teams may enter vehicles using any of the following eight energy types: hydrogen (fuel cell), solar, battery electric, gasoline, diesel, Shell Gas to Liquids (GTL), Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and Ethanol E100. Results for the electrically powered vehicles (first three energy types) are expressed in km per kilowatt hour (km/kWh) and in km per litre (km/l) for the following five energy types.

28 On-Track awards with a total prize money of USD 42,000 are at stake for the participating teams for both Prototype and UrbanConcept categories. The top prize of USD 2,000 will be awarded to the winner of each energy type listed.

Teams can also vie for a total of seven Off-Track awards valued at USD 1,000 each. New awards such as for “Eco-Design,” “Best Team Spirit” and “Perseverance in the Face of Adversity” are available this year to motivate student teams to go beyond the technical competition.

Teams will start running their cars on the track from July 5, 2012. The event will be officially flagged off at 9:00 am on July 6, 2012 by Simon Henry, Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc and Yang Berhormat Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU). The closing ceremony and prize giving will be held on July 7.

The Sepang International Circuit will be open on July 5 to the public from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, on July 6 from 2:00 pm to 7:00pm and on July 7 from 8:00am to 4:00pm. Visitors should enter via the Paddock Club Entrance and can watch the event from Paddock Club (PC) 1.

Aside from the student competition, visitors will also have a chance to take part in the Shell FuelSave Driving Challenge, a real-life drive that will give them the chance to put their fuel efficiency skills to the test. During the Shell FuelSave Driving Challenge, John and Helen Taylor, Shell FuelSave ambassadors and fuel efficiency world record holders, will show drivers through real-life experience how using the right fuel and making a few simple changes to driving habits can help save them fuel, and in doing so, reduce their fuel costs. Registration for the Shell FuelSave Driving Challenge will take place at the Shell FuelSave Exhibition Area at Paddock Club 2. Each challenge takes about 30 minutes to complete, and will start at the Perdana Suites carpark.

For more information on all 2012 Shell Eco-marathon events across the globe, including official rules, instructions for registration and details on prizes, please visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at www.shell.com/ecomarathon.

*Full list of teams (as at 5pm, July 4, 2012):
No. Country/Territory No. of Teams
1 Brunei 5
2 China 6
3 Hong Kong 1
4 Chinese Taipei 1
5 India 11
6 Indonesia 18
7 Iran 1
8 Japan 1
9 Malaysia 28
10 Pakistan 9
11 Philippines 6
12 Singapore 8
13 Thailand 12
14 Vietnam 4
15 Lebanon 2
16 United Arab Emirates 1
17 South Korea 1
18 Qatar 3
119

About Shell Eco-marathon
Shell Eco-marathon began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the United States as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. The winner of that contest barely achieved 50 mpg (21 km/l), and from these humble origins, a more organized competition evolved. In 1985 in France, Shell Eco-marathon as we know it today was born. In April 2007, Shell Eco-marathon Americas event was launched in the United States, and in 2010, the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Malaysia. Malaysia will continue to host Shell Eco-Marathon Asia until 2013, following which, the event will move to Manila, Philippines from 2014 to 2016.