22 June 2012 NUS Eco car 2012 ready for action after losing 45 kg The NUS team at Shell's flag‐off in Sentosa on 22 June, looking forward to the Shell Eco‐ marathon in July which will be held at Sepang, Kuala Lumpur. NO longer under wraps, the Eco car 2012, unveiled on 21 June at NUS Engineering is ready for action – all 72kg of it. It is the lightest in the history of eco cars in NUS, having shed 45kg from its 2011 predecessor. The cute and small NUS eco car garnered much attention in Sentosa where Shell held a grand flag‐off of participating cars for the Shell Eco‐marathon Asia. This year, besides sporting a shell made from carbon fibre (which is much lighter than glass fibre used previously), it has a very special feature --non-pneumatic (airless) tyres which the Engineering students have designed themselves. Non-pneumatic tyres are recyclable and of course, not subjected to punctures. They have not been used in the history of eco cars in Singapore, being a recent development and hotly researched by universities and manufacturers such as Michelin and Bridgestone. However, airless tyres being solid would naturally be heavier. So how did the team prevent weight gain? This is a trade secret for the time being, said Ms Ong Shiyi, the team’s publicist and only female member in the team -- and graduating this year with B Eng in Mechanical Engineering. The new Eco-car also gets the ‘monocoque’ treatment – a technique which uses the shell of the car to support the structural load instead of an internal frame. This method helps to reduce the weight. The car was also ergonomically tested, designed almost like a “wrap-around” to fit the driver (who weighs 63kg) comfortably as well as putting him in the best ergonomic position to operate the car. Like the Eco car 2011, it uses hydrogen fuel resulting in water being the only by product emitted by the car. It is capable of travelling a maximum speed of 65km per hour, with fuel efficiency of 950 km per litre of energy. This means it can travel from Singapore to Bangkok without recharging. Fuel efficiency for 2011 Eco-car was 600 km per litre of energy. The Shell Eco-marathon Asia will be held from July 4-7 in Sepang, Kuala Lumpur. Team leader Boyle Suwono is hoping to surpass last year’s performance – which was snaring the top prize for Urban Concept Fuel Cell Category (59 Km/KWh) as well as the Design Award. Eco car guru at NUS, Prof Lu Wen Feng (seated, right) with some former team leaders and members, including Leanne Marie Lee Liyan, NUS’ first female Eco car team member – and now graduated with B Eng in Mechanical Engineering. Ong Shiy (above, right), the current team’s publicist, is the 2nd female member so far. Shiyi was also the emcee for the car’s launch at NUS Engineering on 21 June. She will be getting her B Eng degree come Commencement in July, along with a few other of her team members. Related link: CNN broadcast “Eco Solution”: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/07/02/neisloss-singapore-eco-car.cnn?iref=allsearch