During the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) Supermileage® competition, co-produced with power management company Eaton, a team of students from Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, placed first and set the all-time North American record by achieving 3,788 miles per gallon (mpg) with their student-designed and built vehicle, topping the record of 3,587 mpg the same team set in 2013.
The vehicle, dubbed L’Alérion Supermileage, only weighs 211 pounds and was built with a prepreg carbon fiber monocoque. The vehicle rode on two front wheels and one rear wheel, all of which were made with composites to reduce rolling resistance.
This marks the third consecutive year students from Université Laval have won the competition. This year, the L’Alérion Supermileage efficiency topped that of the second place team, from Penn State University, by 860 mpg. No other team topped 2,000 mpg.
