[TwelveOfTwenty]

The only comments I can think of about this would get me thrown out of Church.

[gleeaikin]

I suspect the US auto industry and the US oil interests have kept the best innovations out of our cars. China has greater motivation for efficiency.

[Zeneta]

When the market and economy crashed in 08, the new mantra and buzz phrase was all about the “Green Shoots”.

They simply failed to say those shoots are “Bamboo”.

[Alberta's Child]

I understand a new model of Chinese-made vehicle is going to be introduced in the U.S. by 2016. It's going to be cleaner, more fuel-efficient, and cheaper to maintain than anything on the road in the U.S. today.

It's called a rickshaw.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Opposed-piston technology is not new. It is decades old.

Maybe opposed-piston, double-acting would be even more efficient.

[taildragger]

BTW....

This is the Engine Bill Gates threw a lot of money at.

Horizontally Opposed Engines that are 2 cylinders have to deal with a rocking/coupling motion that can kill power, especially if their is a center bearing between the throws, this one doesn't have it, which is good from that standpoint. However, I am not an engineer, but stayed at a holiday in express last night and from what I know about "Rod Ratio" ( google it in regards to Connecting Rods) with those outer long rods, this engine scares the hell out of me...

[wideminded]

That's not the engine of the future. It still has pistons.

This was in the news a couple of years ago. It seems far more revolutionary than the engine in the article you posted. No pistons. No need for a transmission. Dramatically lower fuel consumption and weight for the given output power.

At the time it seemed like it was going to change everything in a few years. But googling, it now, there doesn't seem to be any new information. So hopefully Prof. Müller and/or his engine didn't end up in China as well. (I noticed that his Michigan state website is totally out of date.)

[taildragger]

BTW I have been following this Inventor Engine arena for years and have met a couple of them...

The real clever ones IMHO ( Google them ) ?

* The Erickson Engine, I really like this one...
* Mark Beierle's 2 stroke Rad-Cam.
* The Carlson and Lowe Barrel Type Engine with an internal air slinger and injectors and plugs within the pistons. ( patent applied for in 2011, 2 inventors out of Michigan )
* I don't know why but a little engine that ran in Canada, a 2 stroke called "The James Engine"..

[IronJack]

A reciprocating piston engine by its very nature is not efficient since it ultimately converts linear motion into circular motion. Applying the energy tangentially to a rotor would make much better use of it, but there has been little work done on developing true rotary designs (the Wankel being the exception, and an eccentric rotary to boot).

The constant acceleration/deceleration and opposing forces within a piston engine means that a lot of its energy is expended fighting itself.

Plus, the greatest torque applied by the descending piston on the power cycle comes at the very bottom of the stroke, when the piston has nowhere to go but back up the cylinder. At top dead, when it fires, there is almost no offset on the rod, so the torque is nearly zero.

Of course, all that can be adjusted by valve and ignition timing, but in the end, you've still got a machine that has to reverse itself thousands of times a minute.

[Rodamala]

My 23 year old NA 1.6L diesel VW with 315k on the OD... still gets 40MPG... and I can still get parts for it... and wrench on it myself... Good luck with your Moo Goo Gai Oil Pan motor, fellas.