Indiana Energy Innovation – High School Style
When one opens up a copy of the Economist magazine, one does not expect to see a full-page ad from Shell touting the superb innovation chops of Evansville Mater Dei High School. The front section four-color ad (which also appeared in Sept. 6 Time magazine) profiled the Evansville school for building a prototype lightweight energy car that achieved an astonishing 2,471 miles to the gallon!
Apparently the Evansville private school in southern Indiana took home top 2014 honors from the ongoing Shell Eco-Marathon Americas challenge in two categories: Urban Concept and Battery-electric prototype.
What’s even more amazing? This Hoosier high school team has driven off with national Grand Prize or First Place awards for three straight years!
Calling themselves the Mater Dei Supermileage Team, they said this about their 2014 innovation (which they named “Elroy”): “In its first year of competition, Elroy recorded an astounding 849.2 mpg and set a new Shell Eco-marathon Americas record in the Urban Concept class. Putting this into perspective, the brand new vehicle can take a trek from New York City to Atlanta on a single gallon of gasoline! This incredible fact is not the only exceptional quality of the car. Another happens to be in the slick and sleek design. After months of sanding, sanding some more, and making molds, Elroy finally was constructed from a carbon fiber body. This incredibly light material, along with an aluminum frame, produced a car weighing only 191 pounds, or 87 kilograms! With the team’s hard work and dedication, Elroy exceeded all expectations at this year’s Eco-marathon.”
What great idea are you sitting on?
Congratulations to Evansville Mater Deit – a great Hoosier high school!
The Great Energy Challenge is an ongoing partnership between National Geographic and Shell.
By Michael Snyder, Managing Principal, The MEK Group
About Michael Snyder and The MEK Group – As the Indianapolis Star stated in 2014 profile coverage, “Michael Snyder knows brands.” Snyder today serves as managing principal of The MEK Group, an award-winning marketing, branding and PR consultancy. For more information, please visit www.themekgroup.com