Posted on 01/15/2018 4:49:20 AM PST by taildragger
The developers of a gasoline-engine pickup on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit hope to enter the national conversation on fuel efficiency and emissions reductions.
Achates Power, a California-based engine developer, and Aramco Services, the transportation-focused U.S. arm of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, will be jointly testing the truck, a Ford F-150 outfitted with the Achates engine.
The goal is to demonstrate that the truck’s unique 2.7-liter, opposed piston, compression-ignition gasoline engine indeed delivers the 37-mpg fuel efficiency, 270 horsepower, 429 pound-feet of torque and 50 percent emissions reduction that Achates claims for it.
Those numbers, if substantiated in real-world testing, would make the Achates engine a revolutionary powerplant for full-size and light-duty pickups, which today average around 21 mpg.
Federal regulations — which still are subject to change — presently require light-duty pickups to average 33 mpg by 2025, a target the Achates gasoline engine beats by 12 percent.
“If every light truck had our engine, which represent about 40 percent of the market today, the fuel savings and the related reduction in emissions would be the equivalent of eliminating half of all passenger car production, cutting to about 5 million cars a year from 10 million,” said David Johnson, Achates’ chief executive.
“People are looking for reliability, good performance and efficiency, and if you can offer that you have a good chance,” said Michael Held, a Detroit-based automotive industry analyst with AlixPartners.
This is a good time to bring a new engine design into the market, Held said.
Auto companies, especially those with light trucks, “are going through heavy retooling and redesigning, especially in powertrains, to make sure they can meet future standards” for fuel efficiency and clean emissions, he said.
Saudi Aramco, which has a stake in continued use of fossil-fuel engines, is increasing its activities in the passenger vehicle segment and recently invested in Achates as part of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative. The industry group is an alliance of major oil companies, including Aramco, BP, Shell, Norway’s Statoil, Spain’s Respol and Mexico’s Pemex.
Achates and Aramco plan a series of opposed-piston engine development projects, Johnson said.
The pickup demonstration is the first of the projects. The engine being used was developed by Achates under a $9-million grant from the federal Department of Energy.
The Achates opposed-piston engine can be configured to run on a number of fuels, including gasoline, diesel, natural gas and various biofuels, Johnson said.
It uses the heat from tremendous compression of the fuel, rather than a spark from an electronic ignition system, to explode the fuel and drive the pistons.
In its diesel configuration, the same 2.7-liter, three-cylinder opposed-piston engine being demonstrated in the Achates-Aramco pickup would deliver 42 mpg, Johnson told Trucks.com.
Hood of demonstration truck on display at Detroit Auto Show is cut open to show off Achates' engine. (Photo: Achates)
The engine places two pistons in each cylinder. Each is connected to its own crankshaft. The design, based on the Atkinson-cycle engine developed in 1882, eliminates cylinder heads and valve trains, reducing engine complexity and cost while improving efficiency.
The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that it will cost about $1,700 per vehicle in additional technology to meet the 2025 federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements for light trucks. The Achates engine can help light-duty trucks meet the 33-mpg goal for less than half that amount, Johnson said.
The engine can be scaled up and down. One project underway is development of an Achates generator for commercial power plants in conjunction with Fairbanks Morse Engine, Johnson said.
Achates also is developing a high-efficiency diesel engine for the U.S. military in conjunction with engine giant Cummins Inc., and is doing additional engine programs for other vehicle manufacturers, Johnson told Trucks.com.
The military engine is a 1,000-horspower, 14.3-liter diesel for military fighting vehicles that also could be modified for use in heavy-duty commercial trucks, he said. It could also be scaled so small — a single two-piston cylinder model displacing about 0.5 liters — that it could be used as an on-board generator in range-extended electric vehicles, said Johnson.
The Achates-Aramco project involves continued refinement of the engine. Each company will be working in separate facilities — Achates in San Diego and Aramco Services in Novi, Mich., outside Detroit. Additionally, the two will jointly test the single pickup that’s been outfitted with a working engine, Johnson said.
The testing and ongoing refinements, coupled with work Achates is doing with several other vehicle manufacturers should result in commercial sales of Achates-engine equipped vehicles “in a couple of years,” Johnson said.
Johnson did not disclose the other partners.
Achates, founded in 2004, has attracted more than $150 million in financing, including private and government investment and payments from project partners, he said.
The private company’s most recent infusion was a $28.9-million investment in October from a number of private entities, including an undisclosed amount from the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative.
Correct me if I’ve got the numbers wrong, which I’m just kinda pulling out of memory right now, but >400lb-ft of torque is in the class that we now consider fat block V8 engines, i.e. 5.4 liters and up, isn’t it?
So what are the drawbacks that made it unsuitable for use in the past ten years?
With the compression needed, I’d be curious on the size of those rods and crank journals.
Dust off the Train Master, ma! Opposed-piston power is coming back!
I think their is a video of the principles of this company I think with John McElroy discussing just this. Yes, license the tech, each auto company would use their existing engine manufacturing to build them.
Sounds about right...
What's the gas tank size? or what's the range in miles? My midsize sedan has gone over 600 miles on a tank at 40 mpg. If this truck has at least a 20 gallon tank... I want one!
This config had been around since something like 1886, and a lot of large vessels and Subs use it. Going to a consumer version is new, a long story about the inventor and his main source of funding ( Walmart’s son ) is out their.
>>Years ago I read somewhere an engine guy of note said Torque is a way to gage how efficient the air pump is, since an ICE is an air pump.
That is somewhat true, but not the main indicator of what torque represents. In racing terms, horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, but torque is how far you move it.
I understand its history. It has never been suitable for the variables in ordinary automobiles. No one says why not.
I recall first hearing about this ‘breakthrough’ in auto engines years ago.
>>Put that into layman’s terms. Will it pull a 3 bottom plow through cement?
What size engine do you use to do that now? How much torque does it have?
Boxers can be made smooth, especially a flat 6 or flat 12. They are going w/ a 6 if you will. I am not sure about the noise, good question, it is more of a "Uniflow" and with the Direct Injection my guess is no unburnt fuel is exiting the process, with that said, my guess is no "expansion chambers" would be needed.
Looks like a scaled-down version of the Fairbanks-Morse diesel that was used during WWII on-board some of the Gato class submarines.
Diesel knock list!........................
A lot has been learned since WWII about engines in general and this R & D effort which I think goes back at least 15 yrs.
Emission numbers. It looks like they solved that issue. Twin injectors and the right swirl.
This is the future, but breaking into the commercial vehicle market has been hard. Most companies are under capitalized.
Ring-ding-ding-ding-ding! (Oh, wait, that was the noise a Yamaha 80cc made. Never mind.)
My only point of reference is that I once owned a 66 Lincoln Continental that had a 462cu engine, developing 428 lb-ft of torque.
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