SWABI: A seven-member team of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology left here on Wednesday for Manila, Philippines to participate in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2015, to be held from Feb 26 to March 1. A total of 14 teams from different leading universities from Pakistan would represent their country in the competition.

Beside GIK Institute team, students of Air University, COMSATS Institute of IT, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Hitec University, National University of Science and Technology, NFC Institute of Engineering and Fertilizer Research and Wah Engineering Collage would participate in the event.

Members of the team before their departure told media that the prototype car made by them with rigorous efforts costing Rs1 million was also part of the contest. They said that the car could run both on fuel and electricity.

Professor Javed A Chattha, Pro-Rector Academic, who is also part of the team, guided the students on improving the vehicle, which was also presented in a previous such competition.

They said that the main objective of the event were to encourage the young and talented engineers to come forward with innovative ideas to manufacture cars with reduced environmental impact to save energy for coming generations.

The Manila competition would be the 30th with the GIK Institute being the only team from Pakistan standing 6th in a previous competition.

The students said that for the upcoming contest they had improved their car and its speed, keeping in mind the tough competition.

“Last year, our car covered 205 kilometers per kilowatt per hour but for the upcoming marathon our car speed is enhanced to 300 kilometers per kilowatt per hour,” said Kazi Sher Ahmad, who leads the seven-member team. He said that students from around 40 countries from the Asia would participate in the event.

It has been learnt that Shell officials visited each participating university in Pakistan and inspected their respective vehicles before recommending them to represent Pakistan in the competition.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

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