ECO WARRIOR NUS has launched the Kruce which will take part in the annual Shell Eco-marathon held at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany on May 7 to 9 this year

By Derryn Wong

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY of Singapore (NUS) has launched its 2009 contender for the annual Shell Eco-marathon, which will be held at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany on May 7 to 9 this year.

It’s the brainchild of NUS’ Engineering Faculty, which offers a Design-Centric Engineering Curriculum (DCC), the first of its kind in Asia, which prioritises real-world problem solving and engineering challenges like building a prototype vehicle.

Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar (or KRUCE as it is known, see box for details) was created by an NUS student team with the help of advanced technologies like computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computer assisted design.

The body shell and power source was built by the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical/Computer Engineering while the School of Design and Environment collaborated with the students to fabricate the car body.

The KRUCE marks NUS’ eighth year of participation in the marathon, and it may be the car with the potential to bring home the gold since the projected fuel usage is the caloric equivalent of 300km on a single litre of gas.

This is because it uses, in a first for NUS, a hydrogen fuel cell to power an electric motor which results in almost silent running that produces only water as a by-product of powering the motor. The team said they chose a fuel-cell despite the complexity of the technology because it’s much more efficient than an internal combustion engine and produces no pollution.

KRUCE’s fuel-cell ‘engine’ was designed and built in conjunction with local company GasHub technology.

Last year’s car, the NUS-ECO1 achieved 18th place with a fuel economy of 91km/L. It used a gas-to-liquid (GTL) engine, which runs on synthetic fuel derived from natural gas, as opposed to a fuel-cell.

Women driving expensive cars: A brief history of the Shell Eco-marathon

PICTURE THIS: WOMEN drivers competing in exotic, purpose-built prototype cars costing thousands of dollars. We’re talking about the Shell Eco-Marathon of course. It’s part of the company’s global efforts and investments into alternative fuels and propulsion.

Beginning way back in 1939 as a wager between researchers at a Shell laboratory in the United States to see who could obtain the highest miles per gallon rating.

The competition in its modern, organized form dates back to 1985 and kicked off in France, with the first iteration involving thousands of participants from 20 European countries. In 2007 the first Shell Eco-marathon Americas was held at the California Speedway.

Student teams from all around the world compete to design and build cars that will travel the furthest on the least amount of fuel. Teams purpose-build their entries for either the Prototype or Urban Concept categories.

Prototypes are the most radical with few design restrictions while Urban Concepts have to incorporate ‘real-life’ features like lights, signals and start-stop driving. Entries can be powered by any number of systems from gasoline, diesel and natural gas to others like GTL, alcohol, hydrogen or biofuels.

Because these cars have to run as far as they can on as little as possible, weight-saving is the name of the game. This involves using expensive space-age materials like aluminium alloys and carbon-fibre extensively and getting the lightest member of the team, usually a woman, to drive!

Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar (KRUCE) in detail

KRUCE is a purpose-built prototype car designed especially for the Shell Eco-marathon Urban Concept category.

Dimensions: 2,700mm long, 1,200mm wide, 1,180mm high
Kerb weight: 130kg
Propulsion: 1.2 kW (1.6bhp) hydrogen fuel-cell capable of up to 1200W output coupled with an electric direct drive brushless motor
Frame: Aluminium construction (9.8kg)
Aerodynamics: CFD simulated 0.305Cd
Performance: 40km/h