Alice, the U of A EcoCar team's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, is seen here speeding to victory at the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition. The UAlberta team is now competing at the Shell Eco-Marathon London and the Drivers' World Championship in London, England.
(Edmonton) After winning first place at an international competition in the U.S., the U of A Eco-Car team is now representing Canada at a clean-energy race in London, England.
Fourteen members of the Faculty of Engineering student team are competing in the Shell Eco-Marathon Europe and the Drivers' World Championships from June 28 to July 3.
The students are racing with "Alice" a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered car they designed and built.
Follow the team on the U of A EcoCar Team Blog, and on Twitter and Instagram @UofAEcoCar.
The goals of the competition are simple. In the Eco-marathon race the team completing a set race course using the least amount of energy and time wins. From the results of that race, teams are given a certain amount of fuel for the Drivers' World Championship race.
"In the Drivers' World Championship, the winner is literally whoever crosses the finish line first, using the amount of fuel they're given," said Nik Viktorov, a chemical engineering student who leads the team.
"The course is a shorter distance but if we use up all the fuel before we reach the finish line we don't finish the race."
The strategy will be to strike a perfect balance between speed and fuel economy.
After winning first place at the She Eco-Marathon Americas in Detroit earlier this year, the team began addressing design issues to improve Alice's performance.
"The car can now go significantly faster," he said. "We needed to do that for this competition. The main thing in the Drivers' World Championship is getting to speed."
Race organizers have capped the speed limit at 50 km/h. Viktorov says Alice is now hitting speeds "higher than we have seen at any other competition," peaking at around 25 km/h.
Viktorov said it is important to have a large number of team members attending the competition.
"This is an important competition-we need a stable sized team to be sure the car is ready for competition and that everything can be completed on time.
"We're representing Canada. We need to have a strong turnout."