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IFRS Erechim team won the Shell Eco-marathon Brazil 2025 with a prototype that reached 699 km per liter of gasoline.
While automakers invest billions in electric engines, hydrogen, and alternative fuels, Brazilian students continue to explore a much simpler question: how far can a car go using the least amount of energy possible? In a national competition held in Rio de Janeiro, the answer came in numbers that seem incompatible with any common automobile. The Drop Team from the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS) Erechim Campus, won the Internal Combustion Prototype category of the Shell Eco-marathon Brazil 2025 by recording an impressive 699 kilometers per liter of fuel, one of the highest marks ever achieved on a Brazilian track in the competition.
Gaucho prototype won national competition that brings together universities from Brazil and Latin America with a car that does 699 km per liter
The Shell Eco-marathon is one of the world’s leading student competitions for energy efficiency. Instead of rewarding speed, the contest rewards vehicles capable of covering the greatest distance using the least amount of energy possible.
The 2025 Brazilian edition brought together 43 teams and over 500 students from countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru in a circuit set up in the port area of Rio de Janeiro.
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It was in this setting that the Drop Team claimed first place in the internal combustion category by reaching the mark of 699 km/l, surpassing teams from universities and technological institutes from different regions of the country.
Number is so extreme that it surpasses the consumption of common urban cars by dozens of times
To understand the scale of the result, just compare it with vehicles normally sold in the market. Efficient compact cars usually register consumption in the range of 12 to 18 km/l in real conditions.
The prototype of the Gaucho team achieved an almost impossible efficiency for a conventional automobile because it was designed exclusively to minimize waste to the maximum.
The vehicle was not built for speed, comfort, or everyday transport. All engineering was directed towards transforming every drop of fuel into movement.
Less than a tablespoon of gasoline was enough to complete the course
One of the most impressive data points of the competition appeared in the calculations released after the event. According to information published by Motor1 Brasil, the best attempt by the Drop Team consumed only 12.2 milliliters of gasoline to complete the ten laps required by the regulations, a distance equivalent to approximately 8.53 kilometers.
This volume is less than the content of a common tablespoon.
The global director of the Shell Eco-marathon, Norman Koch, explained that top teams can cover entire kilometers using minimal amounts of fuel thanks to the combination of extreme aerodynamics, reduced weight, and precise driving strategies.
The car that does 699 km per liter weighs less than many motorcycles and looks more like an aerodynamic capsule than a car
The prototypes in the competition follow a very different philosophy from the traditional automotive industry. Instead of prioritizing interior space, safety for multiple passengers, or cargo capacity, these vehicles are built to eliminate any possible energy waste.
The cars usually use extremely light structures, narrow low-friction wheels, almost lying driving positions, and bodies designed to cut through the air with minimal resistance.
In many teams, the prototypes weigh between 35 and 50 kg, less than several drivers who drive them.
Race strategy involves accelerating, turning off the engine, and using inertia
Another important detail is in the way the vehicles are driven. According to the Shell Eco-marathon organization, teams use simulation software to calculate exactly when to accelerate and when to let the car coast by inertia alone.
The driver accelerates to a certain speed and then cuts the engine, allowing the vehicle to continue moving forward almost without consuming fuel. When the speed drops beyond the planned level, the engine is activated again for a few moments.
This method turns the competition into a huge exercise in applied physics, aerodynamics, and energy management.
Team maintains history of dominance and has already set an even greater record
The 2025 victory was not an isolated result. According to IFRS Erechim, the Drop Team became five-time champions of the competition and maintained a streak of consecutive titles in the internal combustion category.
The institution reports that the group also continues to hold the performance record on Brazilian tracks with a mark of 716 km/l, previously achieved in 2023.
The results place the team among the most successful student projects in energy efficiency in the country.
Competition became a laboratory for technologies that may reach future cars
Although these prototypes, like the car that does 699 km per liter, are not designed for everyday use, the competition serves as a testing ground for solutions that may influence the automotive industry.
According to Shell Eco-marathon itself, energy management systems, friction reduction techniques, lightweight materials, and efficiency strategies underwent similar experiences before appearing in commercial vehicles.
In addition to the internal combustion category, the competition also includes electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, making the event one of the largest student laboratories for efficient mobility in Latin America.
While the industry seeks new energy sources, students show that efficiency is still one of the most powerful technologies by creating a car that does 699 km per liter
A large part of the current automotive debate revolves around giant batteries, hydrogen, electrification, and alternative fuels.
But the result achieved by the Drop Team shows that there is another variable capable of completely changing a vehicle’s energy consumption: extreme efficiency.
By transforming just over 12 milliliters of gasoline into a journey of more than 8 kilometers within an official competition, the students from Rio Grande do Sul demonstrated something that engineering has pursued for decades: extracting the maximum possible from each available unit of energy.
In a world seeking to reduce emissions and resource consumption, the small prototype built in Erechim shows that sometimes innovation is not just about changing the fuel, but about learning to waste less and less of it.
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