"Please note that 'mantra' means magic spells. The history of Sunan Kalijaga is mixed between reality and myths. Nobody knows the exact truth of the history. Further, we can not verify any fact about him. It was too long time ago :). Anyway, Sapuangin is an ultra efficient car. So, Just enjoy this news."
Indra Harsaputra and Wahjoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Sun, 04/17/2011 8:00 AM |
After breaking the US record in the Shell Eco-marathon car design contest last year, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) of Surabaya will introduce its latest fuel-efficient vehicle prototypes that will run 1,500 kilometers on a single liter of fuel.
The prototypes named Sapuangin 1, Sapuangin 2 and Sapuangin 3 will be presented at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia in Sepang Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from July 6 to 9 in the contest’s Urban Concept Combustion category.
Aditya Yudistira (21), a designer team member, said the team was currently perfecting the ergonomics of the capsule car so it could maintain speed while taking bends. The trials were always attended by Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, the press, financial sponsors and representatives from Shell Indonesia.
“I have to make it perfect so we can win the contest. It will show to the world that the Indonesian automotive industry is competitive,” Aditya told The Jakarta Post.
The name Sapuangin, literally translated to wind-speed broom in English, is handed by Herman Sasongko, an aeronautic professor of ITS also a kris collector. Sapuangin is the name of one of the charms that belonged to Sunan Kalijaga, one of the first nine preachers of Islam in Indonesia.
“Sapuangin is the charm said to be used by Sunan Kalijaga to move from one place to another in a second. It had the most sophisticated ability in that era where modern technology as we know it today did not exist. Now we are taking that concept into the modern era,” said Aditya.
Sapuangin prototypes have a 680-centimeter chassis made of aluminium. Sapuangin 1 is able to run 234 kilometers on a single liter of fuel. In the circuit, Sapuangin 1 is expected to run 1,500 kilometers per liter of gasoline. Sapuangin 2 and 3 are both expected to be able to run 300 kilometers per 1 liter of diesel fuel. ITS won last year’s Urban Concept Combustion category and also took home the Urban Gasoline Fuel Award with its prototype that could run 238 kilometers per liter of gasoline. The design broke the record held by Mater Dei Canada with 184 kilometers per liter of gasoline.
The Shell Eco-marathon has been an annual event in Europe since 1985 and since 2007 in the US. The contest is finally being held in the Asia region since last year in which 81 teams from 10 countries took part. The number of participants increased to 121 teams from 14 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, China and India.
Budiman Moerdijat, the PT Shell Indonesia external affairs and communications general manager, said the contest challenged the younger generation to find a solution to the world’s energy needs that would increase in line with the population increase from the current 6.5 billion to 9 billion in 2050.
“This event shows that we can be energy efficient. The students’ car designs are just a start,” he said.
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said that the ITS students’ work had inspired her administration to rejuvenate the use of the three-tire public transportation bemo starting next year.
“We will relaunch the bemo as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly public transportation. We are currently seeking financial credit from the banks to support this plan while communicating it with bemo owners so they will voluntarily rejuvenate the vehicles,” she said.
Herman Sasongko, also head of the machine engineering department of ITS, said that the new bemo could run for 15 kilometers per liter of fuel.
“Why should we replace bemo with, for example, buses? The bemo is similar to the kris, you can only find them here in Indonesia,” he said.
Sources:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04/17/its-%E2%80%98sunan-kalijaga%E2%80%99s-mantra%E2%80%99-int%E2%80%99l-forum-introduce.html
No comments:
Post a Comment