Our students always come up with new concepts and ideas. Now, a group of twelve students from Automobile Engineering have formed a team known as “Infieon Supermileage” and are building the Country’s most fuel efficient prototype. They will participate at the prestigious Shell Eco-marathon event, which will be conducted at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia next year.
Teams from Asia and Africa compete at the event and clock their mileages to win the coveted award. The participating teams should choose their category and the fuel. The team from SRM University will be competing in the prototype Gasoline category.
We ask their Corporate head, Sandeep Ganesh a few questions about the event and their team:
Q: What is the current record clocked by any team?
A: Its 1400km/l. i.e. 1400 Kilometres in one litre of gasoline.
Q: How many India team are participating?
A; Around 12-13.
Q: What are your targets?
A: To build India’s most fuel efficient prototype and to spread the message of driving green.
Q: How do the teams achieve such super mileages?
A: The cars are very light, the engines tuned perfectly and the driver drives at a particular fashion which will deliver maximum mileage.
Q: Could you tell us some features of the prototype?
A: It has three wheels and a very small engine thats powers a very light vehicle driven by one driver. The height of the protoypte is less than 100cms and will be designed to minimise all the losses.
Q: What is the average budget for making such cars?
A: The total expenses incurred by the team comes to around 10 lakhs.
Q: Where do you get the capital from?
A: Our college sponsors a few lakhs and the rest , we reach out and obtain from sponsors.
Q: How do you convice companies to sponsor student team?
A: We publicize and market their brand and products. We give them a lot of returns to the amount they sponsor. It is very profitable for the company, as they pay only a considerate amount, but get huge returns. Marketing via student teams or organisations is an excellent way and a lot of companies are adopting to it.
Apart from building the prototype, the team campaigns about Fuel conservation and educates visitors about ways to improve fuel mileages and reduce fuel bills and emissions. To know more about the team and their work, you can visit their official website www.infieonsupermileage.com.