Students from three educational institutions in Oman recently participated in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2016.
The four-day competition involved teams of students building energy-efficient vehicles and testing them on a track to see which could travel the farthest on the least amount of fuel.
The three Omani teams were comprised of students from the Caledonian College of Engineering (CCE), German University of Technology (GUtech) and Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).
“I was pleased to see the team work and passion shown by the Omani teams as they worked together to achieve their goals,” Shell Oman Managing Director Mohammed Al Balushi said. “Shell Oman aims to provide the new generation of Omani innovators and engineers the opportunity to learn, and turn their knowledge and vision on sustainable mobility into reality. We hope that the competition gives the students a platform to become part of the global dialogue about the future of fuel efficiency.”
The SQU team, with their gasoline-run prototype called SQU Eco-Wheels, set a new Arab record of 281 kilometers per liter of gasoline. They placed fifth in the Prototype Gasoline category.
“We were happy to see that our strategies have been successful, and we are proud to be one of the leading teams in this competition, as well as the team that broke the Arab record,” SQU Team Leader Tariq Al Subhi said. “Participating in the Eco-marathon has been a life-changing experience. The leadership, management and design skills that I learned — thanks to Shell Eco-Marathon — cannot be taught in the classroom, and has influenced the way I think in my everyday life.”
