Team Nakoela and Team Arjuna who are members of the Universitas Indonesia Supermileage Vehicle (UI-SMV) Team, posted a sweet achievement at the international energy-efficient vehicle design competition in the Asian region “Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) 2022” which took place on October 11-15, 2022 at Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Nakoela took first place in the Prototype Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) class and Arjuna placed first in the Urban Concept Battery Electric class. This victory repeats UI’s double winner achievement at the “Shell Eco-marathon Asia” in Manila, Philippines, in 2016.
There are six classes in this competition, namely Prototype Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Prototype Battery-Electric, Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Urban Concept Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Urban Concept Battery-Electric, and Urban Concept Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Of the six classes, the car designed by Team Nakoela managed to set a record of 905.21 kilometers per liter (km/l) for the prototype class with a distance equivalent to Semarang-Lombok. Meanwhile, Team Arjuna successfully designed and tested a car that can travel 194.19 kilometers per kilo watt hour (km/kWh) for the battery electric urban concept class.
Shell Eco-Marathon is a competition that challenges university students in various countries around the world to innovate in designing, building, and testing energy-efficient vehicles to answer future energy challenges. This year, Shell Eco-Marathon was participated by 47 student teams from nine countries; Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.
UI Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris, expressed his gratitude, appreciation, and pride for the achievements of the UI-SMV Team and their supervisors who continue to make achievements at the international level. “This achievement is a form of student innovation and creativity in answering the challenges of sustainable energy in the future as well as showing the need for cross-disciplinary collaboration to solve current problems. Hopefully these achievements will motivate the winners to continue to innovate and inspire other students to also excel,” said Prof. Haris.
The Nakoela team mentored by Dr.-Ing. Mohammad Adhitya consists of Rayhan Danendra Wiracalosa(Team Manager), Muammar Shaddam Kusnandar(Driver), Ariza Aulia Ghifari, Rai Zulfikar Satriagama, Yusuf Timothy Turnip, Arafa Maulana Abdillah, Mohamad Iqbal Risya, and Daffa Farhan Ahmad. The Arjuna team was mentored by Dr. Ir. Feri Yusivar, M.Eng. with student members; Edward Lumbanraja(Team Manager), Zahran Mizuya(Driver), Andriko Rasta Indriantomo, Muhammad Alfan Fuad Dzia Ul-Haq, Irvian Zakky Marta, and Zharfan Rosyad. The non-technical team that helped consisted of Hana Nabila, Ivana Esteria, Nada Wahyudhia, Nabila Apsari Dwina PutriFMNS), and Farhan Manan Ramadhan.
Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (FEng) UI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU dedicated the victory of the UI-SMV Team to the Indonesian people and the Universitas Indonesia. “Since the first time we participated in SEM Asia in 2010 in Sepang Malaysia, the name of our Nakoela Team is dedicated to the father of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, FEng, the late Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Nakoela Sunarta. He is a former Head of Department who has built Mechanical Engineering FEng to be as big as it is today. This name continues to be used by the UI-SMV Team for every update of the prototype car that is competed in the future. Hopefully this great name will continue to encourage UI students to work more and produce superior energy-efficient car designs and in the future have an impact on the Indonesian automotive industry,” said Prof. Heri.
Team UI-SMV’s victory was not without effort. According to Rayhan Danendra, the team has been conducting research since June 2022 to find the right innovations so that the car can develop and meet the winning target in each race. He and his colleagues spent around 400 million rupiah to create the vehicle that was contested at the Mandalika Circuit. In fact, this figure does not even include other expenditures for research needs.
During this race, the team faced various challenges. The most difficult challenge is that they have to adapt to the Mandalika Circuit track, which is long and has many climbs.
This is because cars are not designed to have a lot of power. In addition, the competitive environment of the Shell Eco-Marathon race was also a challenge for them. Both Team Nakoela and Team Arjuna must maintain their working habit so that they can work more calmly during the race.
“We always prioritize time discipline in our work. From technical inspection to practice to the race, our cars are always the first to enter the track. In addition, when the car is racing or practicing, we record all the data we need so that our driving strategy becomes more mature in the race,” said Rayhan.
