Really! A Super and Turbocharged Boxer Truck DieselGas Engine with No Spark Plugs

That has to be the most interesting truck here at the Detroit Auto Show, and not just because it has a hole cut in the hood, but it's what's under that hood that's interesting. It's a boxer engine that is supercharged, turbocharged, two-stroke, and it runs on both gasoline and diesel, not at the same time. Now, of course, you probably want to know more about that because it gets a combined 37 MPG running on gasoline. So let's have a chat with somebody who knows a lot more about that engine than I do. Okay, so we have an opposed piston engine, so it's an engine architecture that was around in World War II. So German bombers used to fly from Germany to South America without refueling, so fuel efficiency was always a fundamental attribute of opposed piston engines. So what Acadia's power has done is modernize the engine and go after some of the challenges that made this engine technology fall out of favor in the 70s. So the challenges with oil consumption, meeting criteria emissions, et cetera. So our singular focus has been overcoming those challenges and restoring the architectural beauty of the engine. This is a 2.7 liter, 270 horsepower engine. That is the biggest 2.7 I've ever seen. It is large by virtue of it being a prototype engine. So we work with off-the-shelf components, and so the idea is to demonstrate the fuel efficiency, the durability of the engine, and to show that it can package into a light vehicle. As you can see over here, we have an F-150. So it's packaged into a model year 2017 F-150 light pickup truck, packages completely, and we made very minimal modifications to the actual truck. So it's on the original chassis, mates to the OEM transmission. We anticipate that it will get 37 miles per gallon gas mileage on gasoline and then 42 on diesel. Is that on the highway or combined? It's combined, yes. 37 would be cafe combined, which is over 50% in excess of the requirement, the standard. So how do you get an engine to run both on gasoline and diesel? Because obviously gasoline needs usually a spark plug, and this doesn't have any. That's right. So we're able to run gasoline with compression ignition. So we essentially run gasoline fuel like in a diesel-like combustion mode. And so the beauty with the OP engine is that you're able to get a very high level of internal EGR, exhaust gas recirculation. So at low loads, you're actually able to maintain very high in-cylinder temperatures. So you're able to combust low reactivity fuels like gasoline. Usually when engines run hot, they also pollute a lot. That's right. So does this one pollute a lot? So where you run for the most part at low loads, at part loads, this engine actually has high exhaust temperatures. So what that does is it promotes high catalyst efficiency and therefore better emissions. So walk me through the architecture. What does it look like inside? So you basically have two opposed pistons and three cylinders. So you have three modules, each with two pistons and two injectors. And so the two sets of pistons are powering two different crankshafts. They come together in a gear train. And so you have a single power takeoff that basically would mate into the transmission. And you said, what was the horsepower and torque numbers? Do they vary based on the fuel you're burning? Yes, they do. Yeah. So 270 horsepower is the nominal rating and 650 newton meters of torque. How about in America? Can you convert that to? Sure. So it's about 480 foot pounds of torque. 480 foot pounds of torque. And so the difference really is in the gas mileage. So diesel fuel has a higher energy density per liter. So you get about 42 miles per gallon on diesel and 37 on gasoline. And that's combined cafe gas mileage. Is it supercharged and turbocharged? It is. Yes, that's correct. How does that work? So you have two stages of boost. So the conventional turbocharger utilizes the exhaust gas energy, converts that into boost. And then we have a high pressure stage, which is comprised of the supercharger boost. And because we're able to vary the supercharger RPM using a two-speed drive and then also a bypass valve, we have a high degree of control over the breathing process of the engine. So we were able to really control the scavenging of the engine. And at low loads, we can retain a lot of exhaust gas, dethrottling the engine and unlocking higher fuel efficiency. How about the transmission? Is this a standard transmission? Yes. Okay. So it mates to the original equipment manufacturer's transmission. Now, is this certified by the EPA at all? It is not. So it's a prototype. It's a prototype. And we'll be doing vehicle calibration and then making the truck available for drivability testing later this year. All right. And what's the plan for this engine? I mean, you said it fits, but there's a hole in the hood. So the hole in the hood is only to expose the engine so that people can see it. Yes. But what's the plan? Where do you plan to take this? So we would like to, so, you know, our business model is we're a technology licensor. So we license our portfolio of technology to original equipment manufacturers. So what we would like to do is to see this being produced by an original equipment manufacturer. So at some point, if the stars align, right? Yes. You're going to see like a real manufactured F-150 or Silverado or Ram or Toyota or whoever with this engine. What's it called? What's the name of it? We just call it the OP technology, a post-piston technology. Okay. So this is a 2.7 liter version, but, you know, the beauty of the OP architecture is that it really carries over to any kind of internal combustion engine. So our first production application is actually a very large stationary power engine that will be in production we anticipate this year. That's four megawatts, a really large engine used for stationary power generation or backup power in a nuclear plant or something similar to that. All right. So let me ask you this question. You have to have two fuel tanks. So you have to have a diesel tank and a gasoline tank, and then you switch between the two. You do not. So one thing I should clarify is that this is not intended to be a dual fuel engine. Okay. We're just going to have two parallel developments. One that develops the engine for gasoline and then one for diesel. All right. So this one, which one, what is this one? So this will be a gasoline engine. So you can't run both gas and? No. All right. But you don't need spark plugs in either case. You don't need spark plugs. Which is a unique attribute of this engine. And it runs sparkless across the engine map. So across engine speed range and load as well, which is unique for this engine. Now, who developed this technology? Has it been around a while or is it something that you guys have patented? Right. So the notion of an OP engine is one that's old. So these engines were around in World War II. As I mentioned, German bombers used to fly from Germany to South America without refueling. So what Acadia's power has done is really looked at the flaws and challenges associated with the OP architecture, overcome those, and then restore its architectural beauty. What are the challenges? So the biggest challenges with a two-stroke engine are oil consumption. Because you have no cylinder head, the piston surfaces tend to get very hot. So you need precision cooling and thermal management. So those are all the things that we've overcome using some of the best CAE techniques, computer-aided engineering, simulation tools, and some of the best powertrain engineers in the world. All right. My last question. Have you driven this truck? I have not. So the truck's not yet drivable. Yeah. So we need to do it. So we have not actually run this particular 2.7-liter engine, but we've run numerous OP engines, and they sound normal. They sound like an engine. Does it sound like a boxer? It's got a unique sound to it, but it's not unpleasant. The guys who developed this engine say that it's 50% more efficient than today's technology. 2.7 liters, supercharged, turbocharged boxer that runs on both gasoline and diesel. It's pretty mind-blowing. Now, will you see this technology in your next F-150? Probably not, but maybe it signals the fact that today's internal combustion engine isn't quite to hit on arrival. As always, Roman reporting for the Fast Lane Truck. Check out tfltruck.com for more news, views, and, of course, real-world new technology truck reviews. See you guys next time. Ciao.