As Americans are finding out that modern diesel engines are among the cleanest and most sustainable propulsion systems available in the market today, diesel engines are gaining momentum in the US. In Europe more than 50% of passenger cars and almost 100% of light commercial vehicles are powered by state-of-the-art clean, diesel engines. As the US press and customers start to understand the diesel engine’s advantage of delivering a great driving experience combined with outstanding fuel economy, automakers are expecting a significant rise in sales for diesel powered vehicles.
Gasoline and diesel engines have undergone tremendous improvements during the past 20 years, but the potential to further improve the fuel efficiency of traditional 4-stroke engines is reaching the point of diminishing returns… even small improvements in efficiency come with a steep price tag.
Achates Power re-discovered the already record setting fuel efficiency of the opposed-piston engine. With its inherent thermodynamic advantages, and Achates Power’s proprietary state-of-the-art design and engineering, Achates Power has built and demonstrated clean, dramatically more efficient, and low cost engines that we need for decades to come.
The fuel economy comparison of pickup trucks under real-life driving conditions published by AUTOLINE DAILY in episode #1479 dated October 15th is impressive, and the growing diesel take rate for the RAM trucks is encouraging. But compare this to the fuel economy of Achates Power’s opposed-piston engine in a full-size pick-up truck, and you are looking at the automotive and truck industry’s big game changer in the years to come.
For more information, please refer to the Achates Power website and our published Technical Papers, or in particular to Achates Power’s Light-duty Engine Technical Paper from the 2014 SAE World Congress.
