“It didn’t look like a car,” explained Nantes student Frederic Calvez.

So the students designed Cityjoule, a super-compact, but street-legal electric blue coupe powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. This weekend in Rotterdam, Polytech Nantes left all other competitors in the dust by clocking a result of 145.7 kilometers (90.5 miles) per kilowatt-hour, the energy equivalent of traveling 1,296.7 kilometers on a liter of gasoline, or 3,049.9 miles per gallon. Not only did Polytech Nantes take first prize in the hydrogen-powered urban concept (street-legal) category, it bested its nearest competitor, Bulgaria’s University of Sofia, by more than 75 percent and achieved nearly double the mileage of last year’s winner. (Related Quiz: “What You Don’t Know About Cars And Fuel“)

For good measure, Nantes’ partner school La Joliverie from Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire showed that the team’s traditional aerodynamic styling still is effective. Team Microjoule, as it is called, sailed to victory in the gasoline prototype vehicle category for the third consecutive year, with a result of 2,980.3 km/liter (8,420.4 mpg)—enough, race organizers noted, to drive from Rotterdam to Athens on a single liter of fuel. (Related: “French Teams From Loire Valley Grab Top Prizes in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2012“)

Microjoule’s result fell short of the competition record it set for its category in 2011: 3,688 km/l  (8,674.7 mpg.) But that previous record was set on a race track in France, before the competition moved last year to the 10-mile (16.3-kilometer) street circuit in Rotterdam, a course that includes five 90-degree turns. It makes the achievement even more impressive for the Cityjoule car, with a result marked a 40-percent improvement over the Shell Eco-marathon Europe record for urban concept hydrogen vehicles, set on the more forgiving track.

“Winning has blown our minds!” said team member Maxime Cheval after the race.

The French students prevailed among more than 180 college and high school teams from 24 countries. Each year, students vie to design, build, and race the most fuel efficient vehicle in Shell Eco-marathon, a 29-year-old race that now encompasses three separate annual events on three continents. The Americas edition took place in Houston in April, while the Asia competition is scheduled for July in Kuala Lumpur. (Related: “Super-Efficient Cars Cruise to New Victories at Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2013“)

In an interview before the race, Polytech Nantes students Frederic Calvez and Stéphane Aubert explained why the team opted to retire their winning prototype vehicle and take on the greater challenge of building and racing an urban concept car.

The French students were so methodical about the competition that they purposefully set out to be first in line for the rigorous pre-race technical inspection, where everything from the brakes, steering, weight, dimensions,  energy system, and even the decibel level of the horn are tested for conformity to the rules. “Being first in the queue is part of our overall strategy,” said the team’s manager, Valentin Evon, at the time. “If we have a problem and don’t pass the inspection, then we have all day to create a solution.”

The Shell Eco-marathon victory was the second win this month for the Polyjoule team, as Polytech Nantes and La Joliverie call their combined super-mileage car effort. Earlier in May, the blue Cityjoule won the Educ Eco competition in Colomiers, France, with an even more impressive result of 1,402 kilometers-per-liter-equivalent, or 3,297 miles-per-gallon-equivalent. (Read their blog on their experience: “Making a Stop Before Eco-marathon“)

Here’s a list of the other winners:

Prototype Vehicles:

• Team SCS Pasquet of France’s solar car smashed previous records in the battery-electric category with its winning result of 1,224.1 km (760.6 miles) per kilowatt-hour. Based on gasoline equivalency (1 gallon delivers the same energy as 33.7 kilowatt-hours of electric power), that’s tantamount to mileage of 10,897.4 km/l (25,632.2 mpg). Under a rule change this year, solar and battery-electric cars were combined in one category, and students had to integrate the solar panels into the body of the car, rather than have large overhanging panels. Team SCS Pasquet bested the previous battery electric record by 45 percent, and marked a 60 percent leap in fuel-efficiency over last year’s solar car winner.
• Another French team, INSA from Toulouse, topped the alternative petrol (ethanol and biodiesel) category, with a result of 2,846.2 km/l (6,696 mpg).
• In the Prototype alternative diesel category, Team Roses-4-Eco from the Netherlands, running on natural gas-to-liquids fuel, won with 314.6 km/l (750.1 mpg.)
• Dutch team H2A of Hogeschool van Amsterdam took first place in the Prototype hydrogen category, with a result 342.2 km (212.6 miles) per kilowatt-hour, the equivalent of 3,046 km/l (7,164.6) mpg.
• In the diesel category, Team GMP Valenciennes won with 1,236.1 km/l (2,908.1 mpg) equivalent.

Urban Concept:

• In the battery-electric category, Team Electricar Solution of France won by beating its own 2012 record by more than 40 percent with a result of 376.2 km (233.8 miles) per kilowatt-hour, the energy equivalent of 3,349.8 km/l (7,879.1 mpg) on gasoline.
• Another record came from German Team Schluckspecht, achieving 315.4 km/l (741.9 mpg) to win the diesel category.
• The DTU Roadrunners of Denmark beat their own record from 2012 with 612.3 km/l (1,440.5 mpg) in the ethanol category.
• Team SKAP from Poland came first in the gasoline category with 334.2 km/l (786.3 mpg), edging record-holders Lycée Louis Delage of France, who achieved 425 km/l (999.6 mpg) in 2005.

The full results are available at Shell’s Eco-marathon website.

See related:

“Photos: Cool Cars Designed by Students to Sip Fuel”

“Pictures of Cars that Fired Our Love-Hate Relationship With Fuel”

“Pictures: A Rare Look Inside Carmakers’ Drive for 55 MPG”)

There’s no category for wind-powered cars in Shell Eco-marathon, but for the past five years, the Inholland students have been competing in an annual competition called Racing Aeolus, which will take place in August in Den Helder, the Netherlands.

For Shell Eco-marathon, even though the team couldn’t use direct wind power, they sought to have as green a footprint as possible. For fuel, they used ethanol, because it can be processed from agricultural waste. Eighty-percent of the vehicle material is cork, a waste product of the wind industry. Senior Toon Gerritsen explains that the car is optimized for low carbon emissions, not necessarily low mileage. “It’s about the whole eco-footprint of the car, not only about mileage,” he explains.  Still, the car achieved 522.68 km/l (1,229.68 mpg) on the Eco-marathon track.

When the wind turbine is attached to the vehicle, it is called the Anemo, named for the Anemoi, the Greek wind gods. Seeking a similar deified name for their turbine-less vehicle, the team decided to call it Apollo, also hearkening back to the daring of the U.S. space program.

Toon and fellow senior, Thys Metz, talk about the car in the video, and the team organization, called Stitchting Rootbox (Rootbox Foundation); its goal is sustainable design through collaboration.

Students from Turkey’s Celal Bayar University’s EcoMagnesia team work on their solar electric vehicle, Tarzan II. Photo by Marianne Lavelle

Kağan Meijer of Celal Bayar University in Turkey explains the changes made to the vehicle to conform to new rules for Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013. Celal Bayar’s car last year, Tarzan, had large over-hanging solar panels, but this year, the  solar panels needed to be smaller to be integrated into the body of the vehicle. (Related: “A Solar Car Inspired by Manisa’s Own Tarzan“)  Celal Bayar’s car is called Tarzan II, named for the first environmentalist of Turkey, “Tarzan” of Manisa,  whose real name was Ahmet Bedevi. He is legendary for his work in the first half of the last century planting thousands of trees on Mount Spil, or Mount Sipylus in Manisa. The team completed a best run of 128 miles (206.8 kilometers) per kilowatt-hour, the energy equivalent of 4,313.6 miles per gallon (1,834 km/l).

What if you could pack and assemble a car like Ikea furniture? Students at Aston University aimed for lightweight portability and sustainability in the wood car they designed and built for Shell Eco-marathon Europe. Their project manager, Christian Mclening, explains the innovative plywood composite chassis and “flat-pack” design in the video below. In addition to using sustainably sourced wood, the car also is fueled by a hydrogen fuel cell so it has no emissions. The Aston students won the award for Eco-design in the 2012, and have modified the vehicle for this year’s competition, making it larger. But they still were assembling the vehicle on site at the Rotterdam competition, which continues through today.

France’s Team Microjoule takes advantage of a few rain-free hours on Friday to take the lead in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013. The blue car pictured behind is an electric car with solar panels, WaveRider, designed by students from Universidad Católica San Antonio, Spain.

More than 3,000 high school and college students from 24 countries are gathered in the port city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, this weekend for a race for fuel efficiency. More than 180 cars are entered in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013, where students design and build super-low-mileage vehicles, and then prove them on a 10-mile (16.3-kilometer) street circuit.

Rainy and windy weather has complicated the schedule, because the low-slung vehicles in the prototype category cannot compete in wet conditions. Their tires not only are slim, they are pumped to high pressure and have little grip on slick roads. A team from Salzburg, Austria nearly lost the cover over the driver’s cab in a strong gust of wind on one run, and the driver had to hold the top in place as she finished the lap.

Nevertheless, last year’s winner, Team Microjoule from the technical school La Joliviere in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, already has bested its 2012 performance, with a run of 2888.46 kilometers per liter (6,794.1 miles per gallon), 55 km/l better than last year. Team Microjoule stands in first place so far in the gasoline-powered prototype division, but the competition continues through Sunday.

Microjoule’s result is not yet near the competition record it set for its category in 2011: 3,688 km/l  (8,674.7 mpg), but that race was run on an more forgiving track on a race course in France. For the past two years, Shell Eco-marathon Europe has been run on the streets of Rotterdam around the Ahoy convention center, on a circuit that includes five 90° turns. Every bump in the road and every turn eats fuel, on this course as on all highways. Eco-marathon competitors attempt to curb their fuel consumption with lightweight, aerodynamic design, and also with a gentle driving technique, but they are disqualified if they drive too slowly and need to complete the circuit in 39 minutes.

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb says it’s appropriate that the fuel-efficiency competition is taking place in the low-lying industrial city. The city is especially vulnerable to consequences of climate change like sea-level rise, and yet its economy is heavily reliant on its fossil fuel refineries and import complexes; Rotterdam is looking for solutions that will protect both the environment and the economy. “Rotterdam is working on a clean, green, healthy and economically strong city,” Aboutaleb said in prepared welcome remarks he made for the competition. Of the students competing this weekend, he said, “I hope their innovative ideas will be an inspiration for many people.”

They spent some time before the competition started trying to figure out how to reshape the car, figuring the best solution would be for the driver’s head in the open. The car made it onto the track, and completed an early race with mileage of 524 miles per gallon (223 kilometers per liter.)

Loyola Marymount’s other gasoline prototype in the race, nicknamed Iggy,  had a run of 607 mpg (258 km/l).

See stories of student competitors who used bamboo and other green materials at last year’s Shell Eco-marathon Americas (From Bamboo to Carbon Fiber, Students Innovate Clean Cars at Shell Eco-marathon 2012) and at Shell Eco-marathon Asia (Wooden Electric Car Steals Limelight at Shell Eco-Marathon Asia)

Purdue University students prepare their solar car for Shell Eco-marathon. Photo courtesy of Shell Eco-marathon.

Zack Lapetina of Purdue University explains how the Purdue Solar Racing team uses high-efficiency photovoltaic panels, and then adds intensifiers to increase the amount of sunlight the cars capture for energy in Shell Eco-marathon Americas student design competition. You can also read their blog about their journey here: Lighter and Sleeker for This Year’s Race.

The team’s coach, Marty Miner, who teaches pre-engineering technology at the New York school, explains that it is very much like the “skateboard” chassis concept that was developed by General Motors when it rolled out hydrogen fuel cell concept cars in the past decade. In GM’s skateboard, the liquid hydrogen storage tanks, fuel cells, by-wire software for steering and brakes, battery pack, and electric motors were contained in a fully-operational sandwiched chassis that could accommodate a variety of body types, from sports cars to SUVs. The idea was that such flexibility would ease mass-market manufacturing of the vehicles.

Hydrogen cars still appear a long way from auto showrooms, even though GM does have some hydrogen cars on the road, some in use by the military. Toyota and Hyundai also plan to introduce hydrogen cars in limited markets over the next two years.

After early runs at Shell Eco-marathon, Cicero-North Syracuse was in second place among hydrogen prototype vehicles, with 41 miles per kilowatt-hour, the equivalent of 1,382 miles per gallon (588 kilometers per liter.) The heavier urban concept vehicle, using the same fuel cell assembly, stood alone at the top of its hydrogen fuel category at 26 miles per kilowatt-hour, te equivalent of 876 mpg (372 km/l). The competition continues today.

Lewis says that many of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, so the recycling approach teaches an important lesson: “You don’t have to have money to be successful,” he says.

The Dudley team also is highly diverse, with 10 students whose families come from five different countries, and who speak nine different languages. Lewis enjoys hearing them working together, teaching each other the names of auto parts in French, Arabic, and Spanish. “In school, they’d be separated, but this project pulls them together in problem solving,” he says.

Above, Bryan Cruz explains some of that problem-solving in action. The EV car didn’t pass technical inspection on its first go-round, so he and his teammate are sanding the tire rims to improve the braking.