Technical University – Sofia triumphs with bronze for Bulgaria at Shell Eco-marathon 2026

The team from the Technical University – Sofia brought home a bronze medal for Bulgaria in the final of this year's Shell Eco-marathon 2026 in Poland.

The competition took place from June 24-28 at the Silesia Ring. The TUS Team from TU – Sofia received the award in the 'Urban Concept' category with a hydrogen fuel cell. The team is led by Assoc. Prof. Plamen Punov from the Department of Engines, Automotive Engineering and Transport at the Faculty of Transport.

The young engineers from TU-Sofia are among the best in Europe in the urban car category. Through their hard work, the student team of inventors, designers, and innovators demonstrates the opportunities and prospects that TU – Sofia offers its students. The future engineers are already in demand by every automotive company in Europe and the world.

More than 130 teams from across Europe presented cars that they had designed, constructed, and improved themselves, with the goal of covering the maximum distance with the minimum amount of energy.

The main challenge for all teams this year was the high temperatures, which exceeded 40°C on the track during the competition days. This forced the organizers to change the schedule, moving the start to earlier hours of the day and shortening the distance from 11 to 7 laps.

Nevertheless, cooling the fuel cells at these extreme temperatures proved to be a serious challenge for hydrogen technologies, with many teams failing to complete the entire distance at the required minimum speed. The TU-Sofia team was the first to record a result on the track and took the lead in the standings, before being overtaken by the winners in the category from the École Polytechnique de Nantes, France, and on the last day by the team from the Technical University of Crete, Greece. Out of six attempts, three were successful for our team, with the best result achieved in the final attempt, representing an improvement of more than 20%, but insufficient for a higher ranking.

The TU-Sofia team continues to work on significant improvements to the car for the next edition of the competition in 2027, which will mark 20 years since the team's first participation in the Shell Eco-marathon.