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PHL students build hybrid cars for intl competition
By JESSE EDEP, GMA News
Students from various schools in the Philippines have created a hybrid car for the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2011 in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in July. The schools from the Philippines that will compete in the event are the:
University of the Philippines (UP),
De La Salle University,
Don Bosco Technical College,
Mapua Institute of Technology,
Technological Institute of the Philippines, and
University of Santo Tomas
UP engineering students created "Kidlat," which will be one of 121 cars that will participate in the competition that challenges students from all over the world to design, build, and run a vehicle that can travel farthest with the least amount of fuel. GMA News TVâs âState of the Nation" featured the UP engineering students who created Kidlat, a car that consumes less than one-fourth liter of gasoline for a five-kilometer travel. According to the newscast, Mapua is aiming to achieve the top spot at the prestigious competition. Last year, it placed second in one of the categories in the eco-marathon tilt. Mapua believes that its own versions of âKidlat" â named âAmihan" and âHabagat" â can break fuel efficiency records. âWe can achieve our goals," said Cyril Radovan, group leader of the Mapua team. Mapuaâs Kenneth Bernardo pointed out: âSa project namin na âto, malaman ng Pilipinas at ng buong mundo na we can design fuel-efficient cars." For this year, the teams will be entering in either two categories â âfuturistic prototype" category for vehicles that can yield more streamlined and aerodynamic designs, and âurban concept" which concentrates on the more practical four-wheeled designs. This will be the second time the Philippines will be participating in the international competition. The first one was last year. How the marathon began The Shell Eco-Marathon idea started in 1939 when the âShell Mileage Marathon" scientists in the US challenged each other in an internal competition to see whose car gave the best mileage. The concept pushed the introduction of the Shell Eco-Marathon Europe in 1985. Twenty-two years later, the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas was launched. The competition in Asia began only last year. The marathon hopes to inspire engineering students to craft strategies on mobility and fuel efficiency, according to Shell. It also wants to help promote the use of efficient energy to address environmental concerns on the use of fossil fuels, and to explore alternative energies, it added. â VVP, GMA News