SZE Student Team wins Europe’s Shell Eco-Maraton for fifth time with world record

For the fifth consecutive time, the student team developing an electric vehicle at Széchenyi István University has triumphed in Europe’s largest energy efficiency competition. The SZEnergy Team secured first place at the Shell Eco-marathon held at the Silesia Ring in Poland with a new world record of 332 kilometres per kilowatt-hour, surpassing their own record set last year. The young engineers from Győr outperformed more than twenty university teams from across Europe.

Collaborative article

Shell Eco-Maraton 2026

The Shell Eco-marathon is one of the most significant energy efficiency competitions in the world, where students from leading universities compete with their self-developed, low-consumption vehicles. The Széchenyi István University team, SZEnergy Team, has long been a key player in the event: since 2022, they have won every year in the electric category with a world record, and thus arrived at this year’s competition—held in Poland between 24 and 28 June—as defending champions, once again finishing ahead of all rivals.

This time, the team set a new world record with a result of 332 kilometres per kilowatt-hour, exceeding their previous record of 327 kilometres per kilowatt-hour set last year. This means that their vehicle, named SZEmission, completed the designated distance with such low energy consumption that, when calculated, it would be capable of travelling 332 kilometres using just a single kilowatt-hour—equivalent to approximately ten hours of consumption by a 100-watt light bulb. The value of the victory is further enhanced by the fact that the SZEnergy Team defeated more than twenty competitors, including teams from Europe’s leading technical universities, such as the University of Toulouse (France), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Hochschule Trier (Germany), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the National Technical University of Athens (Greece), Istanbul Technical University (Turkey), and Warsaw University of Technology (Poland).

Bence Novák, team leader of SZEnergy, explained that this year the competition was organised in a shorter format, so they had to begin directly with a competitive run without the opportunity for practice.

“Already in our first run we achieved a result of 282 kilometres per kilowatt-hour, which, as it later turned out, would have been sufficient for victory on its own. However, we saw there was much more potential in the car, so we continuously fine-tuned the settings and tested the systems. On the final day everything came together, allowing us to reach 332 kilometres per kilowatt-hour. We are extremely proud of the new world record and our victory,” he recalled.

For the fifth consecutive time the student team developing an electric vehicle at Szechenyi Istvan University has triumphed in Europes largest energy efficiency competition. 2 — Efforts continued between runs to achieve the best possible performance (Photo: Balázs Miklós)

The outstanding result is supported by the practice-oriented approach of Széchenyi István University and its innovation-driven environment. For many years, the SZEnergy Team has enjoyed the support of the institution, its Vehicle Industry Research Centre, and its industrial partners, enabling increasingly professional working conditions. As a result, students improve their vehicle year by year while gaining knowledge and experience that place them among the very best on an international level.

Novák added that this year’s preparations focused primarily on software developments, which—along with safety-related modifications—contributed significantly to achieving the new record. He concluded by thanking the university, partners, sponsors, and all team members for their year-long efforts.