April 22, 2009

Cal Polys Supermileage Vehicle Clocks 2,358 Miles Per Gallon

The Cal Poly Supermileage team took second place at the Shell EcoMarathon for achieving 2,358.7 miles per gallon.

The engineering students competed against 50 other teams at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on April 16-18.

The goal of the competition is to build a gas powered, three-wheeled vehicle with the best gas mileage possible. Cal Poly's one-man, enclosed vehicle weighs 89 pounds and incorporates a 50cc combustion engine running on 89 octane fuel. The team also won third place this year in the Use of Advantage Technology category.

Cal Poly has been a top United States collegiate entry for all three years of the competition. Students from the Universite Laval of Quebec in Canada won this year's competition with 2,757.1 MPG. Cal Poly won first place in 2007 and second place in 2008, with first place going to Mater Dei High School in Indiana.

"In some ways I am more excited finishing second this year than winning two years ago because the team is much younger," said Kevin Fang, graduate student and a five-year member of the Supermileage team. "I'm the only one graduating in June, so there should be some continuity going into next year." 

Front Panel Express, a company sponsor of the Cal Poly team, posted a congratulations that reads:

"In a world of increasing energy consciousness, energy efficiency is paramount to the world's economic and environmental sustainability. At Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, the Supermileage Vehicle Team has made great strides in this sustainability by building cars which achieve extraordinary fuel efficiency." (http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/en/news/news.html?tx_mininews_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=8&cHash=76e704a384)

For more information and pictures of the event, visit the team's blog at http://cpsmv.blogspot.com/. 

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Photo credit: Verent Chan