The latest green technology has combined with the expertise of engineering students from Oxford University to develop a groundbreaking new vehicle.

Combining a sleek, low shape with battery power, PEGGIE will be the university’s competitor in the Shell Eco-Marathon, a global challenge for energy-efficient vehicles.

And the nine-strong team of students based at the Institute for Advanced Technology at the Begbroke Science Park are confident of success at the three-day event, which starts in Holland today (May 17), despite having only worked on the project in their spare time since January.

Lead engineer Dr Justin Bishop said: “It is a good way of demonstrating what we have done on paper and in simulations.”

PEGGIE has been entered into the battery electric vehicle category of the competition and will compete against 21 other entries from around the world.

Overall, more than 3,000 students in 227 teams from 24 different countries will compete in the competition in Rotterdam. The winner of the competition will be the car that can travel the furthest using the least amount of energy.

Last year’s entry in the battery electric class set a record of 842.5km (523.5 miles) on one kilowatt hour of electricity — about the same amount of power used for a large load in a washing machine.

But this year the challenge has been set over three days on normal roads, with the emphasis on how the driver and team react to real-life conditions.

So as well as the aerodynamic shape, low resistance tyres and latest lithium ion battery technology, the car, which can travel at speeds up to 30kmh (18.6mph) is fitted with monitors that measure its performance and the actions of the driver.

As a result, the team has been working with experts from the university’s Energy and Power Group (from where the name PEGGIE comes from) and computer scientists from the Oxford Martin School’s Institute for the Future of Computing.

The car will be required to make 10 circuits of the 1.6km course and the best four will be used by judges to make the final calculation.

The team has been practising on roads around its headquarters at Begbroke — which is a similar distance and allows them to develop PEGGIE accordingly.

Nathan Ewin, 25, a DPhil student in engineering, said: “We will have computer and radio and video contacts which will feed back real time data from the driver and vehicle including factors such as windspeed and overall efficiency, which will then be calculated through a computer.”

Getting into PEGGIE requires some ingenuity in itself with the driver leaning back with their feet straight out underneath the handlebars.

Driver Lucy Mahoney, 28, a DPhil geography student from Mansfield College, admits she has been recruited because she is “short and light” and has no experience of competitive driving.

She said: “Driving it is quite a strange experience. It is surprisingly noisy and you feel as if you are going faster than you really are as you are so close to the ground. But otherwise it is very comfortable.”

About £8,000 has been invested in the Eco Marathon project with most of the cash funded by the Oxford Martin School going on transport and accommodation for the trip to Holland for the competition.

Oxford Martin School director Prof Ian Goldin said: “Encouraging innovative projects is essential if we are to find new means of energy efficient, low carbon transportation in the future.”

Dr Malcolm McCulloch, director of the Institute for Carbon and Energy Reduction in Transport and who has been leading the project, added: “Events like the Eco-Marathon provide a valuable opportunity to showcase the latest technologies incorporated into these innovative prototypes as well as to share knowledge and expertise.” Contact: 01865 287430 www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk