Shell Eco-marathon Europe coming to London in 2016

In its ongoing bid to inspire the engineers of tomorrow, Shell is bringing its long-running Eco-marathon Europe competition to London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2016 to raise awareness of the global energy crisis.

As one of the world’s longest-running student competitions, the Eco-marathon brings together 200 teams and 300 students from across Europe. It challenges them to design and build energy-efficient vehicles and see how far they can travel on one litre of fuel. The global event is held all year round in Asia, America and Europe.

Inspiring the world’s brightest young minds

Erik Bonino, Chairman Shell UK, said: “For 30 years, Shell Eco-marathon has helped inspire the world’s brightest young minds to design and build new vehicle technologies. ‘Make the Future’ is all about supporting bright energy ideas and providing a stage for collaboration and conversation about the global energy challenge.

It’s inspiring to see these students pushing themselves to their creative, scientific and engineering limits. We encourage people to visit this free, unique festival where they can share, interact with and be inspired by current and future energy solutions

‘Make the Future’

One of the participants, Shannon Hill, a student from University of Central Lancashire, said: “When I joined university there were lots of opportunities I could get involved with. Shell Eco-marathon really stood out to me because it was so different and it’s not like any of the other things I could have got involved with. But this is so future thinking, I was intrigued and immediately wanted to get involved.”

The student challenge will take place at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from June 30 to July 3, 2016 and will form part of the ‘Make the Future’ public festival of bright energy ideas and innovations, which aims to raise awareness of the global energy crisis.

The best designers, engineers and entrepreneurs

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, said: “I am thrilled to welcome the world’s best science and tech innovators to London as they strive to make motor vehicles more and more energy efficient, saving carbon and reducing air pollution.

“London is home to the best designers, engineers and entrepreneurs who I know will rise to the challenge of developing the transformational low energy cars of the future.”

About Shell Eco-marathon

The competition dates back to 1939 when Shell Oil Company employees in the USA made a friendly wager over who could travel furthest on the same amount of fuel. Since then it has expanded to two more continents, includes many energy types and sparks passionate debate around the future of energy and mobility.