College Team Gets 2,098 Miles Per Gallon at ‘Supermileage’ Competition in Marshall, Michigan

Last week, Eaton and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) held the 36th annual SAE Supermileage competition in Marshall, Michigan.

Colleges from the United States and Canada competed. The winners developed a vehicle which got over 2,000 miles per gallon.

Université Laval from Quebec, Canada, achieved 2,098 miles per gallon with its student-designed and built vehicle. The team won $1,500 and will be recognized at a SAE event this fall.

All vehicles were required to have a single occupant, and a one-cylinder, four-cycle engine.

A total of 23 collegiate teams (17 from the U.S. and six from Canada) competed this year, most of which achieved at least 200 mpg. In addition to the winner, two other college teams got more than 1,000 mpg.

Teams were also rated on the design of their vehicles. The Université Laval team was the overall winner with a total score of 2,453 (2,098 mpg plus its design score of 355). Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah, was second with a total score of 1,609 (1,244 mpg and 365 for design). Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, was third with a total score of 1,400 (1,057 for mpg and 343 for design).

Michigan Technological University came in fourth overall with a total score of 1,153 (793 mpg and 360 for design). The other Michigan schools were Lawrence Technological University (621 – 358/263) and the University of Detroit – Mercy (513 – 380/133).