4/26/2016 Bill Bowman
The 2016 Eco-Concept team.
Written by Bill Bowman
The 2016 Eco-Concept team.
The Eco-Illini represent one of only two “concept” teams from throughout North America and South America that will compete against the top cars from Europe and Asia.
After finishing in first place in first place for fuel efficiency (measured by miles-per-cubic-meter-of-hydrogen used, rather than miles per gallon) the Eco-Illini team was bumped to second place due to a flow sensor error.
“This was the best team spirit that I’ve ever seen,” said MechSE Professor Emeritus Michael Philpott, the team’s faculty advisor. “They really did an admirable job bouncing back from adversity.”
Philpott and Bruce Flachsbart, an adjunct assistant director and senior research engineer in MechSE, accompanied the team to Detroit. They noted that this year’s team provided the best car preparation and passed through technical inspection quicker than it ever has before.
The team will head to London for the world championship in early July.
Illinois also had a car entered in the Eco-Marathon “prototype” competition, which features vehicles much more road-ready than the fuel-cell division, and had success there as well.
The prototype car ran into technical set-backs early on, but “they bounced back on the final day of competition to get 855 mpg on their first run and improved that to an amazing 926 mpg on the final run,” Philpott said. “Their car was literally the last car allowed on the course.”
The Illinois prototype team finished in 7th place out of 124 teams.
The University of Illinois hydrogen fuel cell car competed in the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas this past weekend in Detroit, impressing judges and advancing to the world championship competition in London.
The Eco-Concept team represents one of only two hydrogen fuel cell “concept” teams from throughout North America and South America that will compete against the top cars from Europe and Asia.
After finishing in first place for fuel efficiency (measured by miles-per-cubic-meter-of-hydrogen used, rather than miles per gallon) the Eco-Concept team was bumped to second place due to a flow sensor error.
“This was the best team spirit that I’ve ever seen,” said MechSE Professor Emeritus Michael Philpott, the team’s faculty advisor. “They really did an admirable job bouncing back from adversity.”
Philpott and Bruce Flachsbart, an adjunct assistant director and senior research engineer in MechSE, accompanied the team to Detroit. They noted that this year’s team provided the best car preparation and passed through technical inspection quicker than it ever has before.
The team will head to London for the world championship in early July.
Illinois also had a car entered in the Eco-Marathon “prototype” competition, which features vehicles that are powered by gasoline, and had success there as well.
The Eco-Illini prototype car ran into technical set-backs early on, but “they bounced back on the final day of competition to get 855 mpg on their first run and improved that to an amazing 926 mpg on the final run,” Philpott said. “Their car was literally the last car allowed on the course.”
The Illinois prototype team finished in 7th place out of 124 teams.