The SZEnergy Team, a team of students developing an electric vehicle at Széchenyi István University, has once again taken first place in Europe's largest energy efficiency competition in the category of self-driving and electrically powered city cars. In the latter, they won first place, breaking their own world record for the second time.

The student team from Széchenyi István University wrote its name into the history books of the Shell Eco-marathon energy efficiency competition in 2022, when it won, achieving a world record in the city car category. Last year, the students from Győr set the bar even higher, breaking their own record with a result of 291 kilometres per kilowatt-hour, and also took first place in the autonomous, i.e. self-driving, category.

The SZEnergy Team continued its success story at this year's competition in Nogaro, France, from 20 to 24 May, first by overwhelmingly winning the autonomous category and then by winning the electric city car category with a superb performance. In the former, the team beat prestigious universities from the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Norway, while in the latter it beat prestigious institutions such as the Politecnico di Milano and the Technische Universität München.

The students of the SZEnergy Team of Széchenyi István University won the Shell Eco-marathon energy efficiency competition for the second time in the autonomous category and for the third time in the electric city car category. (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

The team from Győr defended their title in a very strong field at the Circuit Paul Armagnac, with their vehicle named “SZEmission” winning first place in the small city car category with a new world record of 309 kilometres per kilowatt-hour, improving their previous world record by 18 kilometres per kilowatt-hour. This means that the car covered the designated distance with such low fuel consumption that it would have covered 309 kilometers using the equivalent of 1 kilowatt-hour – the same amount of energy used by a hairdryer in an hour. The car, which underwent numerous improvements in preparation, beat the second-placed team from the Université de Toulouse by an outstanding 41 kilometres per kilowatt-hour.

In the autonomous category, the teams had to complete three tasks: first, the vehicle had to negotiate a 1.2-kilometre-long section of the track, then navigate a sector of obstacles with buoys and finally park in the only free space between two cars - all in self-driving mode, without human intervention. The team from SZE proved to be the best once again.

Balázs Für, team leader of SZEnergy Team, said that the bad weather conditions made their job difficult, but the work they put in all year finally paid off. "We did a lot of testing and simulation to get the most perfect set-up for the races. Fortunately, the weather turned more favourable on the day of the energy efficiency race, so we were able to improve on last year's world record and win the category for the third year in a row, beyond our own expectations," he said. The team leader said that they have a good relationship with the other teams, who congratulated them on their fantastic result and asked about the technical solutions of the car so that they could improve. "For us, there is always room for improvement regarding our car, so we will continue to work on improving efficiency and achieving further success," he said.

Balázs Für thanked the Széchenyi István University, the Institute's Automotive Research Centre, the HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency, a member of the Széchenyi University Group, and the sponsors for their support. "I would also like to thank all the members of the team, as this success is primarily due to them, without them this result would not have been possible," he added.

Dr Ferenc Szauter, Head of Vehicle Industry Research Centre at Széchenyi University, pointed out that the superior victory, achieved for the third time in a row with continuously improving results, is due to the conscious research and development work and the close cooperation of students and mentors. "The two new first places also show that our institution's talent management activities are world-class: we are not only competing with the most prestigious universities, but also ahead of them," he said.

Photo gallery:

At the five-day competition held at the Paul Armagnac racetrack in France, the team of Széchenyi István University could stand on the top step of the podium twice (Photos: Bíborka Bartha, Balázs Miklós)