Engine Design Just Got a Swift Kick in the Pants

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The Freeman
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http://www.ecomotors.com/

I will leave this here.

Along with this:

Cylinder bore: 100 mm
Dry weight: 296 lb.
Dimensions LxWxH (inches): 22.8 x 41.3 x 18.5
Horsepower: 325 @ 3,500 rpm
Torque: 664 lb.-ft @ 2,100 rpm
Power density: 1.1 hp per lb.

I'm pegging its internal displacement at around 2L. This is mind-boggling. It's like an F-250 super-duty engine got squished into a VW Jetta. With half the moving parts.
 
Wow, that looks efficient. I'm obsessed with efficiency, and in a vehicle, efficiency is paramount. I hope this is truly the breakthrough it seems.

EcoMotors is a portfolio company of Khosla Ventures and Bill Gates.
Interesting.
 
Wait, I'm confused. Is Bill Gates a cofounder of this company?

Our engine and powertrain packages are designed to be 15-50% more efficient, smaller, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture than conventional internal combustion engines.

Impressive.

So, is this on the drawing board, or do they have working engines with this new design?
 
From what I'm looking at, it sounds like they've got working machines. Hard to tell, though.
 
It's basically a boxer engine, using an ingenious redesign of the piston layout. You'd think that something like the ICE that has been around this long, couldn't get much of a design overhaul.
 
The benefit of this type of engine is the piston is always under a constant load.
 
Seems like it would get incredible compression and torque with the opposing pistons, all while using less fuel, since 2 pistons share the same chamber.
 
Check the specs, man. Taken straight from their tech page. I seriously think you could cram one into a Golf.
 
I hope something like this could take off and tbh Ford and GM and all the other big companies should start looking forward more instead of sideways by doing the same old thing. Lots of people are on track for something better not for the same shit we've been using
 
Very cool. I was just talking with my brother about whether or not the internal combustion engine was nearing its performance and efficiency ceilings... I guess that ceiling is a little higher than I thought.
 
Wow you can just see the efficiency. Instead of wasted energy pushing upward on the top of the piston casing and valve just doing nothing but bouncing off and causing stresses - they have it pushing another piston. Good stuff. Can't wait to see these on the street.
 
Thats a feat of engineering right there. Look forward to seeing it in action.
 
They haven't said, probably because it would be taken out of context. It's probably not super-high, but it also puts out 325hp, which is a shit-ton of power.
 
It's like some sort of boxer engine hyrbid. I like it. Hopefully it sounds good
 
Yeah, they said it's based on an old design.

It's nice that they've got a billionaire behind EcoMotor's OPOC engine. Maybe it won't just disappear like many seemingly good ideas we've seen.

half the weight and size of conventional engines

up to 50 percent more fuel efficient than similar engines with the same output
lower weight and smaller size, fewer materials, less friction, higher MPG, lower missions and less heat rejection. And as the engine is working against itself, there's plenty of built in noise cancellation. Power? Burning diesel, two 100 mm cylinders produce 325 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque @ 2,100 rpm.
Wow; 2,100 RPM is extremely low to have that kind of power. This is the diesel version of the engine though. We'd see the updated unleaded version in passenger cars. The cars they are putting them in so far are meek, 3 wheeled commuter cars though.
 
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