DUBAI // A car designed and built in the UAE and made almost entirely of recycled and reinforced paper will be entered into the Shell Eco-marathon Asia Competition in July.
Dubbed the Eco-Stallion, the car is the creation of a group of American University of Sharjah (AUS) engineering students. It will compete in the diesel category at Sepang Ping International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur from July 4-7. The Shell Eco-marathon, which has been running for the past 28 years, challenges more than 5,000 students of top universities to design and build energy-efficient vehicles. The team from AUS will be competing among 150 teams from 16 countries.
Their car is powered by a 243cc engine that can produce up to 4.8 horsepower using diesel. The team believes it can surpass the world record for diesel efficiency, which was achieved by the Spanish team of the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2010 with 1396.8 kilometres per litre.
"We are very excited to have reached this far and now our dream is becoming a reality," said Mughees Khan, the team manager. "At the beginning it looked like a long shot but now that we are unveiling the car, we are proud that we made it this far and we are encouraged that we will do well in Malaysia."
