Students from the Technical University of Sofia will return to Shell Eco-marathon Europe later this month after a one-year pause, targeting a leading position in the UrbanConcept category.

The newly-formed team will use a new hydrogen fuel cell for its Eco-X car, which weighs 95 kg. The environment-friendly vehicle will also feature a completely new suspension and power train as well as a chassis and body with improved aerodynamic parameters, the team leader Stefan Stefanov said.

„Shell Eco-marathon is something more than a competition, it is a challenge. Even though the university team is new, it is highly motivated and is working hard to prove the viability of its concept vehicle”, Stefanov said in a statement.

The team of the Technical University of Sofia ranked second in the Urban Concept Fuel Cell category of the 2013 edition of Shell Eco-marathon. Their car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell used 1 kWh of energy to cover a distance of 82.85 km, improving its previous result by 20 km.

The Eco-X car will be presented to the Bulgarian public on 14 May in Sofia together with three other vehicles developed for this year’s edition of the competition by students from the technical universities in Varna and Ruse and the professional high school of agriculture and forestry in Chepelare.

The vehicle developed by the University of Ruse team ranked 23rd out of 28 participants in the Prototype Battery Electric category in last year’s edition of Shell Eco-marathon, using 1kWh of power to cover 168.3 km in its best attempt. The Chepelare school team vehicle ranked 27th in the same category, covering 92.7 km.

The Chepelare team was 24th out of 27 teams in the 2013 finals in the Prototype Battery Electric category. Their car covered 155.6 km using 1 kWh of energy.

Shell Eco-marathon, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is a unique competition that brings together around 200 teams and 3,000 students from across Europe to battle for ultra energy efficiency on the road.

The event also features the Shell Energy Lab, packed with attractions around innovation and the future of energy. The competition takes place from May 21-24, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

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