Brigham Young University students build supermileage vehicle that can travel 2,145 miles on just one gallon of fuel
Published on May 12, 2026 at 2:04 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on May 12, 2026 at 2:04 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
These students at Brigham Young University have secured themselves a win at a marathon by creating a supermileage vehicle that could travel 2,145 miles on one gallon of fuel.
To put that in perspective, that would be enough to get these students from Utah to New York City.
Their achievement has netted them first place in the Shell Eco Marathon, making this their third victory in four years.
Their victory placed them 122mpg ahead of the second place team, giving them a comfortable win.
These Brigham Young University students rushed to victory with this supermileage vehicle
The competition is sponsored by Shell and sees participants build vehicles with the highest possible fuel efficiency.
Events are hosted around the world, with locations ranging from Istanbul to Singapore to Rio de Janeiro.
For this year’s events, the BYU Supermileage team logged 2,145 miles on one gallon of fuel.
This placed them 122mpg ahead of the second place team and a staggering 900mpg ahead of the third place team.
It was a surreal moment for team club president Camille Nobrega to hear that BYU had been victorious.
“We worked so hard and I’m grateful for all the members of the team and their commitment,” Nobrega said.
“As we got closer to the competition it didn’t feel difficult to put in a few more hours here and there because of the people around me.”
And it wasn’t just in the US that BYU reigned victorious.
It won the overall Global Championship award for best team, beating off nearly 80 competitors from countries around the world including Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.
For their achievement, the team were awarded a pair of $3,000 checks.
Not only that, but they have also been invited to compete in the Global Competition in 2027 in Qatar.
We’ve seen some amazing cars come from college students
With students working hard like this, the future is looking very bright indeed.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen young people putting their collective brainpower together for the common good.
You might recall the heartwarming story of the University of Connecticut students who modified toy cars to give children with disabilities a new found freedom.
And over in Germany, some students created an extremely sufficient EV, which could go 1,600 miles on one charge.
But it’s not all about improving humanity, as admirable as that is.
Sometimes it’s just cool to make something just for the feeling of achievement.
These Belfast students will know the feeling of that with their electric conversion of a DeLorean.
Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
