From Munich to Mumbai with one litre of fuel

10,000 km with only one litre of fuel – that is the claim of the TUfast Eco Team at the Technical University Munich. Some 30 students have therefore started with a complete redesign of their eLi15 vehicle under the motto “Efficiency in a new outfit”.

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“Our team includes mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and computer scientists from the Technical University Munich,” explains Kilian Lerch from TUfast Eco. “Our university studies are mostly very theoretical. The TUfast ECO Project gives us the opportunity to experience the entire vehicle design process: from design and development to the completed vehicle. And that is really cool!” says the mechanical engineering student, speaking for his team.

The students are planning to participate in the Shell Eco-Marathon Europe in Rotterdam with their eLi15 at the end of May. We will compete against some 230 teams from 30 European and African countries. For the past four years, there has always been team from the TU Munich at the annual competition. 

To keep things interesting for even the most economical and innovative young engineers, the organizer of the event always dictates new restrictions. Besides complying with the specified size and weight, each vehicle must also be equipped with front wheel steering in 2015.
“That means that we have to develop a completely new vehicle, because our previous ones all had rear wheel steering,” says Kilan Lerch, explaining the new design of the energy-efficient automobile. “Our vehicles negotiate curves with a steering angle of 8 degrees. Nevertheless, because of the steering, we had to develop a new form, new chassis, new electronics, new undercarriage, new drive train and also a new engine controller – in other words, a completely new design concept.” And for this, the young engineers need sponsors and supporters.

“At the beginning of 2015, I received a request via email, asking if we could help with manufacturing the new wheel carriers and the steering arm,” says Dr. Benno Pichlmaier, Manager Research & Advanced Engineering at AGCO/Fendt. “The TUfast ECO project is all about efficiency and that fits very well to Fendt. We also work on the efficiency of agricultural machinery every day. In addition, we like to support young engineers, because, from my own experience, today’s interested students are often the esteemed colleagues of tomorrow,” laughs the mechanical engineer, who also graduated and received his doctorate from the TU Munich. “The roll-out of the eLi15 has already been a success. Now my colleagues, Thomas Müller and Robert Rothaermel, who also helped, and I will be crossing our fingers for the entire TUfast ECO team for Rotterdam!”