Depok, July 13th 2023. This year, the Universitas Indonesia Supermileage Vehicle Team (UI SMV) team made another proud achievement at the 2023 Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) competition. Coming down in two race categories, the UI SMV team won two cars at the international energy-efficient vehicle design competition for Asia and the Middle East region which was held at the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on 4th-9th of July 2023. This year, 66 teams from 13 countries in Asia and the Middle East region competed in six competition categories.
The two UI SMV teams that were brought to this prestigious competition were the Nakoela team and the Arjuna team. The Nakoela team managed to rank second in the Prototype Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) class with a fuel consumption of 1,190 kilometers per liter. Meanwhile, the Arjuna Team competing in the Urban Concept Battery Electric category also managed to rank second with the achievement of electricity consumption of 172 km/kWh.
What was interesting about the SEM 2023 event this time was the holding of a more prestigious follow-up competition, the Shell Drivers World Championship (DWC), after not being held in recent years. In the Shell DWC competition, which was held as the peak and closing competition on Sunday 9 July 2023, Team Arjuna along with 3 other teams (1 from Singapore and 2 from Indonesia) managed to qualify as a team that will represent the Asia Pacific region to compete with teams from other regions in the world.
The Shell DWC Competition is a racing competition where the 9 best teams (which are 1-3 winners in 3 Urban vehicle categories) compete to finish the fastest with only the energy provided according to each class. The energy supplies are fuel for the ICE class, hydrogen for the hydrogen class, and battery electricity for the battery class, based on the results achieved at the previous stages of the competition. The excitement of this race lies in the fact that the higher the ranking, the less energy they would get yet they still have to finish the quickest to win in this tight competition.
From the Shell DWC competition, the 9 best teams were further screened into 4 teams to then take part in the world-class Shell DWC 2023 event in India. In the Shell DWC event in India later, the 4 best Asia Pacific teams, as a result of selection at the Shell DWC Mandalika 2023 event, will compete with the best teams from other regional SEMs from around the world. The winner will be named a DWC World Champion and will be entitled to visit Ferrari’s vehicle production facilities in Italy.
Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU., expressed his appreciation for the UI SMV Team’s fighting spirit and achievements in the SEM 2023 event, “The enthusiasm for innovation, creativity, and the achievements of the UI SMV Team in answering energy challenges in the future must be appreciated. Their enthusiasm and participation in making UI and Indonesia proud on the international stage in providing and creating new breakthroughs towards the energy transition in Indonesia has a positive impact on a more efficient and environmentally friendly transportation sector. Hopefully the achievements in India will get the best results to make UI and Indonesia proud one more time.”
“This prestigious competition that we have been involved in since 2010 is a great opportunity for students to participate in expressing innovative ideas and contributing to creating transportation that supports clean and efficient energy in the future. The courage of Team Nakoela and Team Arjuna in designing this reliable and efficient vehicle has successfully brought home two proud achievements for UI. This achievement also brought Team Arjuna UI SMV to the DWC 2023 race in India representing Asia and the Middle East,” said Dr.-Ing. Mohammad Adhitya, supervisor of the UI SMV team.
The victory of the UI SMV Team was mainly thanks to research in the application of modern technology, especially the latest software to produce cars that are more efficient in terms of time, energy and cost. “The design of the Nakoela car is adapted from aircraft technology, while the Arjuna car is designed to resemble a teardrop shape to minimize drag forces accompanied by a propulsion and transmission system that is designed as efficiently as possible to create a vehicle with high efficiency,” explained Ariza Aulia Ghifari, SMV UI team leader.
Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) is an annual competition that brings together students from various world universities, to innovate in designing, building and testing energy-efficient vehicles in responding to future energy challenges. There were six classes that competed in this competition, namely Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Prototype, Battery-Electric Prototype, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Prototype, Urban Concept Internal Combustion Engine (UCE), Urban Concept Battery-Electric , and Urban Concept Hydrogen Fuel. SEM 2023 for Asia and the Middle East region, brought together 66 teams from 14 countries, such as Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and other countries.
