Student engineers in high schools are preparing for annual mileage competitions where passenger vehicles approach 1,700 miles per gallon. The Indiana Mathematics, Science, Technology and Education Alliance (IMSTEA) will host the annual Super Mileage Challenge on April 28 at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. Last year, five of the 22 Indiana high school teams competing there exceeded 1,000 MPG, and 16 of them exceeded 200 MPG. The IMSTEA seeks inquiries from teachers in other states who would like to participate.

Mater Dei HS 2005 Supermileage Team

Last year’s Indiana’s Supermileage winner, Mater Dei High School from Evansville, also won the high school division of a competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers . Mater Dei reached 1,345 MPG in Indiana and then, after a bit of tweaking, went to the Eaton Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan and hit 1,693 MPG. Similar high school Supermileage competitions are also held in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin (where 56 schools are participating this year). A coordinating group called Supermileage USA is in the early stages of organizing a national competition.

Thirty-five college teams will compete at the SAE’s 2008 Supermileage competition in Marshall on June 5-6, an increase from 19 last year. Five teams from India have registered, along with teams from Qatar, The United Arab Emirates, and Italy. Four or five high school teams will also compete in a separate division that is sponsored by the Eaton Corporation. “The engineering challenge is to eke as much efficiency as you can out of the engine,” says Steven Daum of the SAE. “The education challenge is managing a complex engineering project, and that is probably more important to the sponsors. It’s hard to teach project management, but to succeed in this you need to do it well. Employers want to know that you can bring a complex project in on time and within a budget.”

The Shell Corporation claims that it began mileage competitions in 1939 with a wager between two of its engineers. Shell began a European mileage competition for college teams in 1985 and started Eco-marathon Americas in 2007. California Polytechnic came in first last year in a field of 20 teams by attaining 1,902 miles per gallon, says Mark Singer, global project manager for the Eco-marathon. This year, he expects to see teams from Mexico, Canada, and possibly Brazil and Venezuela compete against U.S. teams at the California Speedway in Fontana on April 10-14.

The primary difference between the Shell and SAE meets is the engine. Shell does not restrict its teams to internal combustion, and this year it expects to see two cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells and solar energy. “It might seem strange for us to promote the idea of using less fuel, but we know that global demand is growing,” says Singer. “In addition to challenging the students, we are trying to generate a conversation between all stakeholders about sustainable energy.” Watch for an Asian Eco-marathon in the near future.