Shell has enlisted 11 strategic partners for next week’s Make the Future California Festival and Shell Eco-marathon Americas student competition at Sonoma Raceway. The event, which will be held April 19-22, is expected to draw more than 1,000 student participants from 99 high schools and universities across the Americas. The event is free and open to the public to see and experience innovative solutions for more and cleaner forms of energy.
Shell Eco-marathon is a unique and challenging competition featuring student-designed and built, ultra-energy-efficient vehicles. Visitors can experience a tour of the paddock area, where bright young students prepare their vehicles to see who can go the farthest on the least amount of energy, with some achieving more than 3,500 miles per gallon. Other activities popular with festival-goers include free virtual reality experiences, hands-on science experiments, and a hydrogen and electric vehicle ride and drive.
The Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition features teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and the United States. Shell’s Festival and Technical partners, many of which actively use the event as a recruitment ground, include: Agility, Altair, Delta, Honda, HP, Linde, O’Reilly, Toyota, Sonoma Raceway, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and United Airlines.
2018 marks the 12th edition of Shell Eco-marathon in the Americas and the return to California where the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Americas student challenge took place in 2007 with less than 25 teams competing on the inside track of the California Speedway in Fontana.
“At Shell, we find some of the best ideas come from working together, and that’s why the Make the Future Festival exists – to drive conversation, collaboration and innovation around cleaner, smarter energy solutions,” said Pamela Rosen, general manager for Shell Eco-marathon Americas. “Our partners are the backbone of the Make the Future Festival, and their incredible support and shared purpose will ensure that Make the Future California is a rewarding and inspiring event for the Shell Eco-marathon student participants and visitors who attend.”
For more information on Shell Eco-marathon Americas, including additional details on Shell’s partners, visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at shell.com/ecomarathon. For more information on “Make the Future California,” visit shell.us/makethefuturecalifornia.
