10,000 kilometres on just one litre of fuel – that’s exactly the goal the TUfast Eco Team research group from the Technical University of Munich has set for itself. Around 30 students set about completely overhauling their experimental eLi15 vehicle under the motto “A new face of efficiency”.
eLi15 is designed for a single driver: height – 1 m 65 cm, weight – 50 kg
“Our team brings together mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and computer science specialists from the Technical University of Munich,” says TUfast Eco team member Kilian Lerch. “What we study at university is almost pure theory. But the TUfast ECO project lets us go through every stage of building a vehicle – from design and engineering to assembly. And that’s really great!” says the future mechanical engineer, describing his team.
The students plan to take their eLi15 vehicle to the Shell Eco-marathon Europe, to be held in Rotterdam in late May. They’ll be competing against 230 teams from 30 countries across Europe and Africa. The Technical University of Munich’s team has taken part in this annual competition for four years running now.
Around 30 students from the Technical University of Munich are involved in the TUfast ECO project
To keep the challenge alive for even the most resourceful and creative young engineers, the competition’s organisers keep introducing new restrictions. Besides the driver’s height and weight restrictions, 2015 introduced a requirement that every car be front-wheel drive.
“That means we have to develop an entirely new car, since all our previous ones were rear-wheel drive,” says Kilian Lerch, explaining his newly overhauled energy-efficient vehicle’s design. “Our cars can handle corners with an angle of 8°. And despite that, because of the front-wheel drive, we had to develop a new shape, new running gear, new electronics, a new drivetrain, and a new engine control system – in other words, a completely new design solution.” And for that, the young engineers needed support and sponsors.
Interested onlookers at eLi15’s first showing
“In early 2015 I received an email asking whether we could help make a spare-wheel mount and a steering arm?” says Dr. Benno Pichlmaier, an employee in AGCO/Fendt’s advanced engineering and development department. “The TUfast ECO project is, above all, about efficiency, which fits perfectly with Fendt’s principles. We too try every day to make our agricultural machinery more efficient. And besides, we’re happy to help young engineers, because, even from my own personal experience, today’s keen students often become tomorrow’s respected colleagues,” smiles the mechanical engineer, who also studied and earned his degree at the Technical University of Munich. “The first showing of eLi15 was already a success in itself. And now my colleagues Thomas Müller and Robert Rothermel, like me, will be keeping our fingers crossed for the TUfast ECO team’s victory in Rotterdam!”
Julia Hesse – driver of the new energy-efficient vehicle
