Shell Eco-marathon is one of the world’s longest-running student competitions and next year it will take place at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The competition challenges the brightest student minds globally to design and build ultra-energy-efficient vehicles, competing to see how far they can travel on one litre of fuel. 

In 1985, the winning team would have been efficient enough to travel only from London to Rotterdam. 30 years later, the current record stands at 3,771km – the distance from London to Rome and back again on just a single litre of fuel! 

The student mileage challenge will take place at the Park from June 30 to July 3, 2016, and will form part of ‘Make the Future’ – a public festival of bright energy ideas and innovations, aimed to raise awareness of the energy challenges we face around the world.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, said, “I am thrilled to welcome the world’s best science and tech innovators to London as they strive to make motor vehicles more and more energy efficient - saving carbon and reducing air pollution.

“London is home to the best designers, engineers and entrepreneurs who I know will rise to the challenge of developing the transformational low energy cars of the future.”