KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's very own MMU Grüne Welt of Multimedia University Melaka was named runner-up in the Prototype Vehicle Design category of the Shell Eco-Marathon 2021 off-track awards.
The team from MMU's Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) earned the judges' recognition over their Eco-V7 battery-electric prototype vehicle's thoughtful sustainable design and other unique features.
The achievement won them USD 750 (RM3,089) and 100 Virtual League Points, propelling their current ranking to 10th in the Asia Pacific Region and 30th globally. They are the only Malaysian team recognised at this year's Shell Eco-Marathon Off-Track Awards for Asia and the Middle East.
Shell Eco-Marathon 2021 adopted a unique virtual model due to the Covid-19 outbreak, all with the continued goal of addressing an age-old problem that focuses on improving vehicles' efficiency to travel as far as possible using as little energy as possible.
Winners for Asia Pacific and the Middle East were announced in a recently held live virtual ceremony.
"The 2021 virtual programme is designed to recognise and reward the students' achievements throughout the year. From virtual technical inspection to Off-Track Awards and global energy challenges like Pitch the Future, it aims to stretch and strengthen their STEM skills from start to finish," said Shell Eco-Marathon global general manager Norman Koch.
"While nothing can replace the excitement of the track, we hope that these virtual components will continue to provide opportunities to Shell Eco-Marathon teams throughout this season as we navigate these difficult times," he adds.
Over the years the event has seen thousands of high school and university students from across the world aiming to build ultra-energy-efficient vehicles, in a variety of designs, using a spectrum of energy types.
This year's Shell Eco-Marathon Virtual Off-Track Awards for Asia Pacific and the Middle East received a record number of submissions at 198 entries from 64 teams across 11 countries, nearly twice the number of submissions from past years.
The global Virtual League is the latest feature of the Shell Eco-Marathon Virtual Programme, enabling teams to accrue points across a range of different challenges including the Off-Track Awards and a brand-new Autonomous Programming Competition, which all feed into an ongoing league table.
After shortlisting the best teams, a virtual panel used scorecards to select the winners and runners-up who will receive USD 1,500 and USD 750 in prize money respectively, plus Virtual League points.