The Dátil ´15 from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) has won first place in the international Shell Eco-marathon competition in the alternative fuel category after traveling 1,496 kilometers on one liter of ethanol. What’s more, the UMH vehicle broke its own record among Spanish teams, something it had set in the competition’s previous edition.

The competition was held May 21-24 at an urban circuit in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Associate professor Miguel Ángel Oliva Meyer from the UMH Mechanical Engineering and Energy Department directed the UMH team, which was comprised of students from the School of Engineering of Elche.

Around 200 teams from around the world participated in this international competition, and this was the 12th time the UMH has entered an energy efficient vehicle. For it, the students built an entirely new prototype that reduced its weight to 28 kg (a 30% improvement compared to the previous model), with innovative front-wheel drive to optimize weight and minimize friction in curves, and they improved its aerodynamics by some 40%. The UMH vehicle is 2.85 meters long, 60 centimeters wide, and 50 centimeters tall. It is one of the lowest models in its category, a characteristic that considerably reduces the risk of rollovers.

Further information on the results from this international competition is available at http://www.shell.com/global/environment-society/ecomarathon/events/europe/2015-results.html#iframe-L3JvdHRlcmRhbS8=.