SEM is a competition created by the world's leading oil producer, Shell Corporation. In the competition, each participant was challenged to design and design a vehicle that has high efficiency where the committee itself made a regulation to make a reference for the vehicle to be designed by the participants.

The Shell Eco Marathon Asia (SEM-Asia) competition itself started from 2010 with the host being Malaysia until 2013 and in 2014 until 2016 SEM-Asia was held in Manila, Philippines.

Until 2017 and 2018, SEM-Asia was held in Singapore and in 2019 in Malaysia. In 2022 SEM Asia will again be held offline in Indonesia and will be held at the Mandalika International Circuit and for the next event SEM-Asia Pacific and The Middle East 2023 & 2024 will be held at the Mandalika International Circuit, with teams competing from all over Asia & the Middle East.