BYU has the top supermileage vehicle in the Americas for the third time
BYU engineering students keep finding ways to squeeze more miles out of a gallon of gas. For the third time in the last four years, BYU has won the Shell Eco Marathon, meaning they’ve once again built the most fuel efficient supermileage vehicle in all the land.
This year’s championship vehicle can log 2,145 miles on one gallon of fuel — good enough to get from Utah to New York City on one tiny tank. That final mpg mark was 122 mpg better than the 2nd place team and nearly 900 mpg better than the 3rd place team.
BYU Supermileage team club president Camille Nobrega, who has been with the club for three years now, said hearing BYU announced as the top team was surreal.
"We worked so hard and I'm grateful for all the members of the team and their commitment," Nobrega said. "As we got closer to the competition it didn't feel difficult to put in a few more hours here and there because of the people around me."
BYU’s team not only created the best vehicle in the competition, it also won the overall Global Championship award for best team of the nearly 80 competitors. Teams competed from the United States and several other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Colombia.
For their performance, the team of BYU engineering students earned a pair of $3,000 prize checks for their wins, plus an invitation to compete in the Global Competition in 2027 in Qatar.
“These competitions are an insane amount of work, but a huge learning experience,” said faculty mentor Dale Tree, a professor of mechanical engineering at BYU. “For some students they are career and life changing.”
