The 28th edition of the Eco-marathon kicked off in Rotterdam this afternoon. The Eco-marathon is a competition in which students must design, build and drive energy efficient vehicles. The winner is the team that manages to get its’ vehicle the furthest on just one litre of fuel.

There are around 200 teams representing 24 countries taking part; 17 of the teams come from the Netherlands.

The record, which was set in 2005 by a Swiss team, is 3,688 kilometres. Experts do not believe that the 3,000 students taking part this year will be able to break the record.

This is the first time in the competition's history that the Eco-marathon has been run on public roads. The teams will also be judged on their driving skills, and they will have to negotiate five 90-degree corners on the route.

The competition started by Shell and is still sponsored by the oil giant. This is the first time it's ever been held in the Netherlands.

(jric)
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