University of North Sumatra (USU) will participate in this year's Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) Asia 2012 in Sepang, Malaysia. With a team named "HORAS", 14 of Mechanical Engineering USU best students’ hoped to bring with them a spirit that represents all citizens of North Sumatra. In a launch event held at the USU Hall today, HORAS showcase and run their energy-efficient vehicles directly.

"Shell sees the issue to meet future energy needs while preserving the earth as a challenge to creativity and innovation; where in it lays our spirit and shared responsibility to fulfill the customer need of sustainable mobility. Young people are agents of change as well as the primary potential resource in solving various problems around the world. Shell Eco-marathon is one manifestation of our efforts in addressing energy needs, which involve innovation, creativity and spirit of reformations from the young generation ", said Darwin Silalahi, President Director and Country Chairman of PT Shell Indonesia at the event. Darwin also expressed his appreciation to USU student team's participation in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2012 which is the first to represent universities located in Sumatera.

In their inaugural participation in the SEM Asia 2012 to be held at Sepang International Circuit in July, USU will compete in UrbanConcept category (in which vehicles are designed to resemble the existing urban car) with gasoline as fuel. The record for this category in SEM Asia is temporarily held by ITS Surabaya with achievement of 237.6 km/liter.

Rector of USU, Prof. Dr. dr. Syahril Pasaribu, DTM & H, M.Sc. (CTM), Sp.A (K) on this occasion stated, "HORAS evidently shows that the spirit of our students in dealing with the issue of future energy challenges is not inferior to other universities in Indonesia and in Asia. University of North Sumatera is very proud of the competence and hard work of our students in the Faculty of Engineering."

SEM challenges young people’s innovation in facing the future energy challenge by designing, creating and driving fuel-efficient vehicles. The concept of the competition is simple; vying for the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel (more distance, less fuel).

The importance of support from various parties is also underlined by Darwin Silalahi who points out that, "The support from the university as well as from communities in Medan and in North Sumatra certainly has helped foster an enormous enthusiasm which is a critical driving factor for the success of team HORAS."

General Manager of the team HORAS, Munawir R. Siregar said, "We are targeting fuel consumption of 200km/liter for the MESIN USU car that we created. There are still some constraints and limitations, but with the support of many parties are optimistic to achieve the targets we have set. "

SEM Asia 2012 will be participated by 145 teams from 17 countries. Aside from HORAS that represents USU, Indonesia will also be represented by 17 other teams. Namely 3 teams from ITS, 4 teams from ITB, 2 teams from UPI, 3 teams from UI, 1 team from PNJ, 2 team from Polnep, 1 team from UGM and 1 team from Polman Bandung.

About SEM

The Shell Eco-marathon aims to inspire engineering students to develop new approaches to sustainable mobility and fuel efficiency. It is a major educational project that encourages and fosters innovation in which students work together to explore potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges.

Shell Eco-marathon is a continuous educational project that challenges student teams to design and build the most energy-efficient vehicle to compete against other teams’ vehicles. The winner is the vehicle that travels the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel or energy. The teams will be competing in two main category based on their car design:

  • Prototype is for futuristic, streamlined vehicles that aim to maximize fuel-efficiency through innovative design elements
  • Urban Concept is for more conventional four-wheel fuel-efficient vehicles suited to the needs of today’s drivers.

Teams have a choice of any of the following fuels or energy types to power their vehicles:

  • Shell Unleaded 95 (EU) / Shell Plus 89 (US) Petrol/Gasoline
  • Shell Diesel
  • Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
  • Shell Gas to Liquids (100% GTL)
  • Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (100% FAME)
  • Ethanol E100 (100% Ethanol)
  • Hydrogen
  • Solar
  • Plug-In Electricity (Li-on)


More information on Shell Eco-marathon can be found at: www.shell.com/eco-marathon

For further information on Team HORAS USU, please contact:

Munawir R. Siregar
HORAS Team Manager
085372301219
munawirrasyid@yahoo.com

Rio A. Sembiring
HORAS Administration Manager 
081370936307
rio_gurky@yahoo.com


Or visit  :

www.horasusu.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/HorasUSU

www.usuhoras.co.cc