Anyone who has watched a Shell Eco-Marathon in the past could be forgiven for thinking the concepts on display are little more than the stuff of fantasy. The majority of the vehicles that compete are three-wheelers with a shape that rarely represents that of a conventional passenger car. The event had, in the eyes of some, become little more than an academic exercise.
So it’s reassuring then that this year, Shell has introduced an urban concept category to give the event a touch of realism.
Speaking at a press conference earlier this month, Jeroen van der Veer, Royal Dutch Shell’s outgoing chairman, said that finding alternatives is needed now more than ever with the increased demand for personal mobility combined with diminishing supplies of petrol.
He believes that alternative fuels such as biofuels, hydrogen, natural gas and electricity will grow slowly over the next four decades but will account for less than half the transportation fuels market by 2050 with petrol and diesel still the majority fuels. Despite the media interest in electric cars, he also believes that electricity will take decades to emerge as a major power source and will require tremendous development and major increases in the use of renewable energy for power generation.
The urban concept category however, gives students a chance to show off their engineering prowess by wringing miles out of a vehicle more likely to be used by everyman.
By focusing on maximising fuel efficiency with design elements such as drag reduction, the UrbanConcept vehicles show more roadworthy cars can be efficient too.
