Wisconsin Motors intends to certify these engines on traditional fuels (gasoline, natural gas and propane) while HEC intends to use alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, syngas, ethanol and methanol.

(There are two types of cylinder sleeves, or liners: wet and dry. A wet sleeve comes in direct contact with the engine’s coolant; a dry sleeve is surrounded by the metal of the block, and does not directly contact the coolant.)

The team will start testing the new engine this month and hope to introduce the new engine late in the fourth quarter. The new engines will be machined at V&L Tool in Wisconsin, and assembled at Wisconsin Motors’ facility in Dyer, Tennessee. Alternative fuel systems and controls will be added at HEC. Alternative fuel electrical generator systems will be built at HEC in Algona, Iowa. The Dyer facility is almost a quarter million square feet and has five test cells for EPA emission certification. This frees up needed space in Algona to expand HEC’s genset business.

To get started WM picked up 206 engine blocks from HEC and took them to Wisconsin for machining. Two more similar loads will follow.