GALLERY: UJ dominates the Shell Eco-Marathon

University of Johannesburg (UJ) recently hosted the Shell Eco-Marathon South Africa at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria.

The marathon challenged students from around the world to design, build and drive energy efficient cars.

Twenty teams participated including eight from Nigeria and two Moroccan teams.

UJ posted four teams, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) sent one and the remaining teams were school teams including the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg, Redhill Secondary, Hoërskool Florida and The King’s School West Rand.

The day was a success – building on the same event last year which was the first eco-marathon on the continent, aiming to encourage interest in science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM).

UJ dominated the first four positions on the day with BMW Eco Team Pro 1 taking top spot in the battery-powered vehicle portion of the marathon and receiving the off-track award for Best Pit Area. Team Fupre from Nigeria also performed well with the top vehicle running on gasoline and receiving the award for Technical Innovation.

UJ Shell Eco-Marathon spokesperson and Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment Head of School: Electrical Engineering, Professor Johan Meyer stated, “In order to develop engineering capacity in Africa we need to encourage our youth to develop a passion for innovation, new technologies to advance society and enhance our African economies. The Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment strongly believe South Africa and Africa have the ability to build competitive edge in all that we do, it is just a matter of inspiring innovative engineering education to capacitate the continent.”