Former SVT Head John Colletti's New Gig

Oh look, it’s EcoMotors International, some new greenie-car startup
company with a “revolutionary” engine design. I bet it’ll save all the
polar bears while running on a blend of hemp oil, wildflowers and
moonbeams.

Ha! Just what flavor of hippie vegetarian baloney is this? And what
automotive genius is running this company? Let me guess: Al Gore? Ed
Begley Jr? Henry David Thoreau?

Uh, well as it turns out the President and COO of EcoMotors is John
Coletti, former director of Ford’s skunkworks performance division,
SVT. Coletti is the guy who pushed for the Mustang to stay a rear-
drive V-8 performance machine instead of becoming the forgettable
front-drive that Ford sold as the unfortunately named Probe. Coletti
was also on board during the 1999 SVT Cobra intake manifold debacle
and the car’s subsequent comeback that culminated in the incredible
2003-’04 supercharged “Terminator” Cobra. SVT’s crowning achievement
under Coletti’s watch was the Ford GT supercar – unbelievable as it
seems today that Ford actually built it. Of course, there were also
bread-and-butter rigs like the the SVT Contour, F-150 Lightning and
SVT Focus, all excellent performance machines.

But if you think it’s nuts that a guy like Coletti has signed on with
an outfit called EcoMotors, you’re really not going to believe the
engine they hope to bring to market. It’s called OPOC (Opposed Piston
Opposed Cylinder), and it’s a turbocharged two-stroke, two-cylinder,
with four pistons, two in each cylinder, that will run on gasoline,
diesel or ethanol. The two pistons, inside a single cylinder, pump
toward and away from each other, thus allowing a cycle to be completed
twice as quickly as a conventional engine.

The heavy lifting for this unconventional concept was performed not by
Coletti, but by EcoMotors CEO, Prof. Peter Hofbauer. During his 20
years at VW, Hofbauer headed up, among other things, development of
VW’s first diesel engine and the VR6.

Hofbauer said he had the idea for the OPOC while working at VW, and
was inspired by the original Beetle’s flat engine design as well as
the opposed-piston, two-stroke, diesel Junkers “Jumo” aircraft
engines.

The OPOC has been in development for several years, and the company
claims it’s 30 percent lighter, one quarter the size and achieves 50
percent better fuel economy than a conventional turbo diesel engine.

Earlier this year, the company received an injection of $23.5 million
from Khosla Ventures and Bill Gates, and says it will have a vehicle
engine ready for production by 2013.

They’re predicting 100 MPG in a conventional car.

Patrick

On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:21:13 -0800 (PST), NoOp
wrote:

>Oh look, it’s EcoMotors International, some new greenie-car startup
>company with a “revolutionary” engine design. I bet it’ll save all the
>polar bears while running on a blend of hemp oil, wildflowers and
>moonbeams.
>
>Ha! Just what flavor of hippie vegetarian baloney is this? And what
>automotive genius is running this company? Let me guess: Al Gore? Ed
>Begley Jr? Henry David Thoreau?
>
>Uh, well as it turns out the President and COO of EcoMotors is John
>Coletti, former director of Ford’s skunkworks performance division,
>SVT. Coletti is the guy who pushed for the Mustang to stay a rear-
>drive V-8 performance machine instead of becoming the forgettable
>front-drive that Ford sold as the unfortunately named Probe. Coletti
>was also on board during the 1999 SVT Cobra intake manifold debacle
>and the car’s subsequent comeback that culminated in the incredible
>2003-’04 supercharged “Terminator” Cobra. SVT’s crowning achievement
>under Coletti’s watch was the Ford GT supercar – unbelievable as it
>seems today that Ford actually built it. Of course, there were also
>bread-and-butter rigs like the the SVT Contour, F-150 Lightning and
>SVT Focus, all excellent performance machines.
>
>But if you think it’s nuts that a guy like Coletti has signed on with
>an outfit called EcoMotors, you’re really not going to believe the
>engine they hope to bring to market. It’s called OPOC (Opposed Piston
>Opposed Cylinder), and it’s a turbocharged two-stroke, two-cylinder,
>with four pistons, two in each cylinder, that will run on gasoline,
>diesel or ethanol. The two pistons, inside a single cylinder, pump
>toward and away from each other, thus allowing a cycle to be completed
>twice as quickly as a conventional engine.

That engine dates from around 30 or 40 years ago. Read some old
Popular Science. Every year there was another miracle engine design
introduced back in the 60's. Maybe it's time has finally come.