Pakistan is hardly known for its engineering expertise or environmentally friendly policies. But students from two leading universities are trying to change that perception. Four Pakistani student teams have taken up the challenge of building eco-friendly cars as part of a competition featuring 196 other teams from across the world. They are tasked with building ‘urban concept’ vehicles, which are designed for everyday use by consumers, and ‘prototypes’ – unique, experimental vehicles that may seem impractical today, but might inform the design of cars in the future.Two teams from the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Science and Technology (GIKI) and two teams from the Pakistan Navy College of Engineering (NUST) are headed to Germany on May 7 to participate in the Shell Eco-Marathon. The competition will reward the vehicle that goes the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel.
