EcoMotors Signs $200 Million Production Deal in China

EcoMotors International Inc. aims to produce its opposed-piston diesel engines in China at an annual rate of 150,000 units beginning next year.

Two-cylinder turbocharged engines designed by the Allen Park, Mich.-based company will be made in a $200 million factory erected in Anhui province by partner Zhongding Holding Group Ltd. Their deal is the result of negotiations begun three years ago.

The Chinese company's Zhongding Power unit plans to market some of the plant's output to Chinese makers of electric generators and off-road and commercial vehicles. EcoMotors is pursuing its own customers in China and the U.S.

EcoMotors CEO Don Runkel, a former executive at General Motors and Visteon, tells reporters he expects the first vehicles powered by the company's engines to hit the road in China in about two years.

At least two other U.S. companies, Achates Power and Pinnacle Engines, are pursuing their own opposed-piston architectures. The layout requires no valvetrain or cylinder head, thus simplifying the design and reducing manufacturing costs.

Promoters say opposed-piston engines have superior thermal efficiency and can operate leaner and with reduced pumping losses. They claim the combination can make such technology dramatically more efficient than conventional diesel and gasoline engines.

The EcoMotors engine has a central crankshaft flanked by two opposed cylinders. Each cylinder contains two pistons that alternately compress and expand a combustion space between them. The company claims its patented design is half the size and weight and 20%-50% more fuel efficient than a conventional engine of comparable power output.