While some in the United Arab Emirates insist on developing unsustainable vehicles like this solid gold mercedes car powered by biofuel, engineering students from Dubai have been hard at work designing a more modest vehicle that should be able to travel as far as 1,000 kilometers on just one liter of fuel.
Ironically, the team from Higher Colleges of Technology Dubai Men’s College will race their car at a competition hosted by a corporation that has met a lot of resistance for their unsustainable fracking plans in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Shell’s Eco-Marathon slated to take place in Kuala Lumpur between July 4 to 7, 2013 will be attended by a total of five teams from the UAE, as well as a host of international collegiate groups.
HTC’s Dubai Men’s College designed Eco-Dubai 1, a lightweight car that will hopefully travel 1,000 kilometers on one liter of fuel. Half a meter wide, two meters long and half a meter tall, the 25 kg vehicle will be driven by a student who weighs 60kg.
Although he is not expected to go on a diet to improve the car’s performance, the driver Khalifa Awadh is said to fit “snugly” into the pioneering vehicle. The team is preparing to begin testing soon.
Teams from HCT Abu Dhabi and Al Ruwais are working on their own vehicles, are as students from the American University of Sharjah and the American University of Dubai.
And though a competitive spirit is necessary to spur great new designs, The National claims that the five UAE teams are friendly towards one another and even share brainstorming ideas for the competition.
Each will use a unique combination of technologies to bolster fuel efficiency, including everything from electricity to solar energy.
Polytech Nantes University from France holds the record for building a car that traveled 4900 kilometers using only one liter of conventional petrol.
:: The National
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I think if this car deployed in roads pollution is reduce ASAP and gradually after that world become better place for nature.