2098 mpg is the mileage achieved by the Quebec’s Laval University team, which won the SAE Supermileage competition, this year.
Living in an age of impending climate change and fossil fuel depletion, possible solutions are either we depend on renewable fuels like solar, wind, biomass etc., or use the available fossil fuels really efficiently. While many nations are taking huge steps towards the former solution, competitions like SAE Supermileage are encouraging students towards the latter.
The SAE Supermileage Competition is a yearly fuel efficiency competition, held in Marshall, Michigan, primarily sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Around thirty teams compete in the competition, every year, to build the vehicle that runs a specified distance, consuming the least amount of fuel. For the competition, the engines are donated by Briggs & Stratton.
The 36th Supermileage competition was conducted in the first week of June between 17 U.S. teams and the final results were declared. This year, a student team called Alerion Supermileage from Laval University, Quebec, won the competition with an astounding 2098 mpg. To improve the gas mileage, the team created its single-seater car as lighter as possible. The team, which won the same competition 4 times before, including the last year’s, utilized the same basic shell, but created a better car by reducing the overall weight by 3 pounds. They also made some major changes in the car’s fuel line and, electronic and clutch systems.
While the Laval University team won the first place and was awarded $1500, it was followed closely by the Brigham Young University team with 1244 mpg. Northern Illinois University stood in third place with 1057 mpg.
Though there are cars that achieved even greater mileages like 15,212 MPG-IMP and 11,516 mpg in similar competitions like Shell Eco-marathon, at the student level, the Laval University team’s record is quite an achievement. In 2008, the same Laval University won the competition with 3,169 miles per US gallon (0.0742 L/100 km).
