Toulouse multidisciplinary engineering (TIM), an association of Insa Toulouse, was recently crowned world champion in India, at the Shell Eco-Marathon, for its all-record electric car.
The Shell Eco-Marathon, whose world championship took place from 9 to 12 October in Bangalore (India), is a high-level competition that brings together eleven teams of engineers from all over the world. Teams compete in two main categories: thermal cars and electric cars.
This year, for their first visit to India, ten multidisciplinary engineering students of Toulouse (TIM), a student association formed in 1995 at the National Institute of Applied Sciences (Insa) in Toulouse, were crowned world champions in the electric vehicle category.
Future vehicle?
TIM, which can redefine the 21st century mode of transportation, combines high performance. What can you do with one kilowatt hour (1 kWh), besides running the refrigerator for a day? So, TIM drove his vehicle for one person weighing 70 kg, covering a distance of 116 km. World record in India.
116 km covered with 1 KWh
“We validated this 116 km/KWh performance despite several technical problems that occurred during the experiment,” explained Jeremy Sauvage-Buxeul, an engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering from Insa. We ranked top in the electric battery category and second overall. We competed against eleven other best teams in the world, the competition was divided into three events. The first, Mileage, is an energy performance test that aims to consume as little as possible while covering a certain distance in a specified time. The second event, Time Trial, which is a time trial based on the amount of energy consumed in the first event, consists of completing one lap of the circuit as quickly as possible and setting the starting grid for the final test, a speed race with a limited amount of energy in all energy categories combined.”
“The heat engine doesn’t turn off”
And the people of Toulouse have done wonders in this area. “During the second time trial event, our vehicle completed a lap in 1 minute 33 seconds, giving us pole position for the final event,” the team said. In the final race consisting of ten laps on the circuit, our TIM07 vehicle crossed the finish line in first place, thereby enabling us to claim the 2023 World Champion title.” Future car? “For us, the thermal engine is not dead, but there are important changes to be made in the field of mobility,” said Jeremy Sauvage-Buxeul.
