Formula E as Shell Eco-marathon: competitions at the basis of future mobility

Can a FIA world championship be compared to an international race for students? Is it possible to equal 270 bhp racing cars to 1 kW little vehicles designed for optimal fuel efficiency? Though it might sound crazy the right answer is both yes and no. Don’t worry we “haven’t gone nuts”. We are talking about Formula E and Shell Eco-marathon.

Formula E (left) and Shell Eco-marathon (right)

But let’s start from the basis.

Shell Eco-marathon, to which Team H₂politO proudly takes part since 2008, is a competition aimed at University and High School students. Its objective is to make students design vehicles , both prototypes and urban concepts whose extremely low consumptions make them reach a rank, not their speed. This competition is held worldwide but for obvious logistic and economical reasons the same race is organized in different periods of the year and in three different locations: Europe, which this year will reach the 30^th edition, Asia and Americas, that started hosting races a few years after Europe. Team  H₂politO takes part to the Shell Eco-marathon Europe, which in the last four years (the location may change from year to year) was held through the roads surrounding the Ahoy Arena, in Rotterdam (Nederland)  with its vehicles IDRA e XAM, presented in this blog in the last weeks.

Formula E, a new typology of racing born within the FIA championship, is the very first single-seater championship for fully-electric racing cars. Introduced in September of 2014 will see participating teams running in the heart of some of the biggest cities in the world such as London, Beijing and Miami. The objective of this racing series is, as tradition in motorsports, to push the effort in research and development  of road cars through the experience gained on track. In this case Formula E, regarding fully electric cars, aims to stimulate the interest of fans and to develop further this particular field, growing the awareness in the field of a more sustainable mobility.

And it’s for this reason that Team H₂politO thinks that the two competitions have more in common than what it might not appear. Shell Eco-marathon too proposes itself to “continue to spark the debate about the future of mobility and inspire students to push the boundaries of fuel efficiency. And one of our contributions is the constant review and update of the competition rules, reflecting new trends in both the automotive and energy industries”. Moreover, besides the competition, Shell and its partners organize during  practice and race days an exhibition called Shell Energy Lab, where visitors of any kind are involved in activities that represent a journey through the ideas of the future of energy and mobility.

 

Comparison between Formula E launch video and Team H2politO's Communication Award

video campaign for Shell Eco-marathon 2014

Obviously the technical contents through which the two competitions hope to reach the same target are completely different.

Formula E, for its first championship, chose a single car to be used by all participants, the Spark-Renault SRT_01E. This single-seater car has an electric powertrain and electronics provided by McLaren Electronics Systems, the world leader in high-performance technology for motorsport, that equipped with the battery stake from Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the Williams group owner of the world famous F1 team, is able to provide a power output of 200 kW (270 bhp). The power in racing mode is set to 150 kW (202.5 bhp) to assure the best autonomy during the race but can be taken up to 180 kW (243 bhp) for 5 seconds per lap, exploiting an innovative interaction with the social networks (the most voted driver on social networks during the race can access this kind of “boost”). Despite this power reduction the driver must pit during the race to swap the car, creating interesting scenarios for the strategy and the control of the electric engines. These are capable of impressive performances even if they are a “100% green type of engine”: 0-100 km/h takes 3 seconds, the top speed is 225 km/h and all of this without emitting a single gram of CO₂. Big attention is dedicated to aerodynamics, specifically  optimized to help during overtakes, to chassis and bodyworks. Dallara, the celebrated Italian factory, takes care of designing the vehicles and granting the same safety standards of the Formula One. Race cars are made of  alluminum, carbon fiber and Kevlar with exceptional results both in structural stiffness and in weight reduction.

The Spark-Renault SRT_01E

As explained before this choice will regard just the first year of races. From next season on the Formula E circus will accept new suppliers and design variations, aiming at a more refined engineering competition. We are just at the dawn of a new way of seeing racing series in the vast motorsport world. 

Formula E in London

By the way, cars enrolled in Shell Eco-marathon are deeply different. First of all the competition is divided in two categories: Prototypes, extreme vehicles such as our IDRA, and Urban Concepts, city car-looking vehicles like our XAM. Both categories are furthermore divided by the type of fuel the vehicles use. You can find internal combustion engines, both conventional and hybrids, powered by Shell FuelSave Unleaded 95 (Europe and Asia)/Shell Regular 87 (US) gasoline vehicles indeed, Shell FuelSave Diesel (Europe)/Shell Diesel (Asia and US), Ethanol E100 100% second generation bio-ethanol from the scraps of the agriculture, Shell Gas to Liquid, CNG, natural gas like methane and electric vehicles powered either by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Thanks to the great variety of the fuels and the broad freedom in the technical rules Shell Eco-marathon has a incredibly huge range of technical and stylish solutions, put on track by future designers, technicians and engineers.

IDRA (left) and XAM (right) at Shell Eco-marathon

The competition format aims at raying to simulate everyday conditions a vehicle might find itself while being used in a big city, so the average speed around the track is generally around 25 km/h. This average is due to the fact that rules oblige participants to cover the distance of 16,117 km of the track in less than 39 minutes (exceeding that time invalidates the achieved result).

In these terms thinking of a race strategy becomes a must. Our Team Members constantly communicate during the race with the driver in order to provide him or her the necessary information in order to use as less fuel as possible. The most efficient vehicle in its category wins by achieving that goal.

Don’t think that, due to the low speed and the apparently worse performances, with all due respect to motorsport vehicles, Shell Eco-marathon might feel a boring or not fascinating race. Participants live every single run (4 attempts during 3 racing sessions) feeling their hearts pounding. Those will be the longest 39 minutes  that they will ever experience.

Deep differences but a common goal, work together for a sustainable mobility, against pollution and the growing congestion of our cities, building in new generations the idea of a cleaner world even though following different paths.

Team H₂politO is involved, with Shell Eco-marathon, as Formula E to accelerate this change. Are you?

Team H2politO at Shell Eco-marathon 2014