Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s eco-car team won the technical innovation award at the 2022 Shell Eco-Marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana earlier this month.

The team was rained out on the final day of competition at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The final day was set aside for races to test the limits of energy efficiency.

Sask Polytech students constructed two eco cars, one each for the urban concept and prototype categories. The urban concept car took home the technical innovation award for their ingenuity in 3D printing.

Tim Muench, the program head for design and manufacturing engineering technology at Polytech was among one of the instructors that oversaw the project.

“The material that we used is called lightweight PLA which is a relatively new 3D printing material and it’s about one-third the weight of normal 3D printed material and it of course uses about a third of the amount of materials so in the end there’s less material that needs to be recycled.”

Muench says the environment at the Eco Car Marathon is a bit competitive, but for the most part it’s a friendly event.

“You know a really interesting environment down there, you think it would be highly competitive and it is to a certain extent but it’s a very cooperative thing. All the teams try to help each other out, we’ve learned over the years that we’ve been down there that we just bring a ton of extra parts even stuff that doesn’t belong on our car because there’s always people from other team that are missing a special bolt of spring.”

Over the course of the project, about 10 or so students helped work on the eco-car. Polytech has taken part in the event since 2017. More information about the cars can be found with our online story.

Sask Polytech’s prototype car is an ultra-efficient, lightweight vehicle designed for fuel economy. The body of prototype car was 3D printed and the frame is made of recycled carbon fiber hockey sticks. The car is quite small to reduce aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance and is Sask Polytech’s first electric car to enter the challenge. The prototype car passed technical inspections but did not get a chance to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to weather.

The urban concept car is designed for city driving and considers comfort and space for luggage, along with fuel economy. The urban concept car could potentially be used as a future commuter car and must include two doors, four wheels, full lighting, horn and brake functions. The aerodynamic body of Sask Polytech’s urban concept was 3D printed using recyclable plastic and the frame, of course, is made of recycled carbon fiber hockey sticks. It includes a 35-cc ice auger engine with a custom fuel injection system. The urban concept car also passed technical inspections and unofficially placed fourth in its category with 372 mpg US fuel efficiency.

(Pictured is the 2018 Sask Polytech team)