Driven to help make the future now
Mar 20, 2017
Visions of the future usually involve rising megacities and new technological innovations that are designed to improve people’s lives.
With Shell’s partnership with the Filipino youth, building the road towards a low carbon world is gaining more significance, as sustainable growth powers progress in ways that preserve the environment while promoting smarter mobility through smarter use of energy and effective driving behaviors.
One particular group of student-engineers who strongly uphold these ideals is Team Dagisik from the University of the Philippines (UP). A team composed of new members, Team Dagisik nonetheless proved that they are contenders to watch for in the annual Shell Eco-marathon Asia competition which is slated this March 16-19 in Singapore.
“We see Shell Eco-marathon as an opportunity to innovate, to use our skills to help society in realizing sustainable mobility,” said Rangel Daroya, manager of Team Dagisik, when asked what made them decide to join Shell Eco-marathon which is a competition that challenges students to design, build, and drive the car that can run the farthest using a single unit of energy.
The team built their vehicle, dubbed Siglo, from scratch based from knowledge gleaned from previous teams that competed for University of the Philippines. With the goal of energy efficiency in mind, the team managed to reduce the weight from 150 kg that is the average weight of previous cars that ran for U.P., to 90 kg for better performance.
“Joining takes a lot of determination and commitment. When you think you already got it figured out, new problems will come up. But it’s all worth it when your car finally runs,” said Daroya.
Their hard work and ingenuity in working around the energy challenge did allow the team to prevail during the first Shell Eco-marathon Philippines – a challenger event held in preparation for the regional competition which Shell sponsors to promote sustainable mobility and use of clean and efficient transport.
With a mileage of 110.03 km/kWh, Team Dagisik’s Siglo won the UrbanConcept – Battery Electric category during the local race that recently took place at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga.
Team Dagisik’s feat was in large part brought by the members’ positive attitude that motivated them to push past their limits and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving smarter mobility.
Among the challenges, there was the technical aspect. The new team members all come from U.P.’s Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute. “Even though it’s not in our background, we learned how to do mechanical work in building the body, with assistance from some students from the Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering Department,” Daroya said.
Aside from sleepless nights allotted for working on their car, thinking of ways to become more resourceful, and finding sponsors to support the team, Daroya also recalled the many scenarios that greatly tested their mettle and teamwork.
“There was a time when our car finally ran but lost its break, crashed on a tree, and broke in half. There was also the time when we organized an event to introduce Siglo to the public at the U.P. grounds, but the car, whose been okay the night before, wouldn’t run,” shared Daroya.
Despite these difficulties, the team’s strong finish at the first Shell Eco-marathon Philippines propels them to gear up and perform even better at the anticipated Shell Eco-marathon Asia event to be held in Singapore from March 16 to 19, 2017. Team Dagisik from the University of the Philippines is just one of the Pinoy teams that not only endeavours to bring honour to their school and country, but is also steadfast in their commitment to help come up with innovations that power the world’s progress with less carbon footprint.
To know more about Shell Eco-marathon, visit www.shell.com/ecomarathon.