One of the world’s longest-running student innovation competitions, the Shell Eco-marathon is a program designed to encourage high school and university students to pursue excellence in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The program also contributes to expanding students’ knowledge of energy technologies and alternative energy sources. This program involves teams exploring all aspects of design, technology, and engineering to design energy-efficient vehicles and compete on the track. Students aim to travel the longest distance using the least amount of fuel with the vehicles they design.
Since 2005, over 135 Turkish teams and more than 3,000 Turkish students have participated in the Shell Eco-marathon competitions in Europe. Turkish teams have placed in the top 10 of their respective categories 30 times since 2005.
In 2018, students from the Uludağ University Mechanical Engineering Community won the European championship in this competition, which featured 147 teams from 27 countries. “Barbaros,” designed and built by Uludağ University students, was selected as Europe’s most efficient vehicle in the city-concept hydrogen-powered vehicle category. In 2019, the AE2 team from Yıldız Technical University, one of the Turkish teams, won the “Safety Award” among the five categories of the Off-Track Awards.
The Shell Eco-marathon was held online in 2020 due to the pandemic. In the competition, Turkish youth attracted attention in Europe with the projects they developed. As part of the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2020, Bursa Uludağ University’s UMAKİT team won in both the “Circular Economy” and “Technical Innovation” categories, Yıldız Technical University’s AE2 Team won the “Safety Award” category, and TED University’s ALECTED Team won in the “Monitoring and Reducing Carbon Emissions in Vehicles” category. Due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic in 2021, the program continued with virtual competitions. In the “Journey to 2050” competition, high school and university students from around the world sought answers to the question, “What should the future of mobility look like?”
In the competition organized in collaboration with Shell and Microsoft, students were asked to develop sustainable, creative, eco-friendly, and technological ideas in the field of future mobility and create a 30-second promotional video addressing the question “What should the future of mobility look like?” The UMAKİT Team from Bursa Uludağ University won first place in the Europe & Africa Region with their engaging video.
The Shell Eco-marathon was held in person in 2022 after a two-year hiatus. At the competition in the Netherlands, the Energy Technologies Community of Karadeniz Technical University was honored with the “Spirit and Perseverance Award,” selected through a special evaluation process. The team members’ ability to overcome challenging conditions throughout the competition, along with their flexibility, adaptability, and the support and high energy they provided to their peers on other teams, played a key role in their receiving this award. The Shell Eco-marathon was held in 2023 and 2024 at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro, France.
In 2024, 166 Turkish youth from Adana, Antalya, Bursa, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Konya, and Trabzon formed 12 high school and university teams. The young participants took to the racetrack in vehicles powered by alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and electricity. Istanbul Technical University and Karadeniz Technical University had the opportunity to test the vehicles they developed in various categories on the international stage with two separate teams.
At the 2025 races in Poland, marking the 40th anniversary of the Shell Eco-marathon, Turkish teams achieved significant results for our country. Yıldız Technical University’s AESK Team secured the Autonomous City Concept Championship for our country. The Çukurova University UMEX Çukurova Electromobile Team also secured second place in the Urban Electric Vehicle category, covering 252 km with 1 kWh of energy. The UMEX Çukurova Electromobile Team also demonstrated outstanding performance in the Regional Competition, where 41 teams competed, and the top three teams from each category were invited, finishing in second place.