The second year engineering students of KJ Somaiya College unveiled a fuel-efficient car capable of achieving 300 kmpl on Tuesday. The car, which was designed and built by team ETA (symbol of efficiency), comprising 40 students from core engineering branches, is all set to represent Maharashtra at the “Shell-Eco Marathon Car Race” to be held between July 4 and 7 at the Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Rising fuel prices encouraged us to find a solution. After coming to know of this competition — where a fuel-efficient car was the requirement — we thought we couldn’t have got a better platform,” said Tony Thomas, a team ETA representative. The car has been named “Jugaad ’13” due to its larger than life claim of running 300 kilometres on a litre of petrol.
Built on an aluminum chassis, the light bodied, airplane-like structure of the car facilitates better airflow. The electronic fuel injector (EFI), touted as its USP, increases fuel economy, unlike in the case of usual cars, which have carburettors instead.
“In their year-long journey of hard work, the teachers and parents backed the students,” said Tony, adding, “One of our teammates, presented the idea to companies and our project was sponsored. Yamaha and Nyasa helped us with capitation, and the car will be shipped to Malaysia by a local freight forwarder, which again is sponsored.”
On being questioned on how they reached the 300-kmpl figure, Thomas said that while they had a virtual test they had found the car to do nearly 450-500 kmpl, but during the physical test the car has clocked 290-300 kmpl over the past 20 days on 500 ml of petrol. He added that there have not been approached by any car manufacturer as yet but are expecting queries after their return from the competition.