If you want to a car to be more efficient and help to save the planet, you’d want to get one with an EcoMotors engine when they ship according to Don Runkle, EcoMotors CEO. In fact, Runkle is betting that more efficient engines–not hybrid or battery-powered cars–will be the key to making automobiles more clean and efficient. “We unabashedly say that we have the best solution,” Runkle says in reference to his company’s opposing piston, opposing cylinder engine, which uses fewer parts and generates more power per stroke than a traditional engine. The so-called “opoc” engine is lighter and less expensive, making its transition more feasible and cost effective than the switch to electrical power. Additionally, unlike battery-powered cars, the opoc-based cars can still refuel at traditional gas stations and expensive recharge or battery swapping stations aren’t needed.
In terms of competing hybrid and electric technology, the size, weight, and expensive battery packs has slowed down mass adoption. According to Xconomy, the opoc technology works in a powerful and efficient way:
EcoMotors’ opoc engine is built with opposing pistons, opposing cylinders, and a single crank in the middle. Together, the components work to create a combustion power event with every revolution, unlike existing 4-stroke engines that combust every other turn, Runkle says. The arrangement results in lower friction and heat rejection, and the the engine has a higher power density–meaning power per size and weight–than anything else out there. “The holy grail of engines is power density,” says Runkle, who joined the company last year.
Runkle says that fuel economy could be increased to 15 to 50% greater fuel efficiency, and the engine can be made to run on gasoline, diesel, or hydrogen fuels. He also says that it is more efficient and cleaner than electric vehicles, which have to tap into grid energy (electricity) obtained mostly from coal.
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