Mercedes-AMG unveiled the new flagship of the AMG GT Coupe portfolio—the 2025 AMG GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE—expected to arrive at US dealerships in late 2024. The extremely powerful E PERFORMANCE hybrid drive features an AMG 4.0L V8 biturbo engine at the front and an electric motor on the rear... Read more →

LiquidPiston, Inc., a leading innovator of efficient internal combustion engine technology and hybrid power systems, announced that a fully integrated version of its 25hp XTS-210 heavy-fuel rotary engine (earlier post) has begun testing. This milestone follows the successful completion of initial dynamometer testing of the engine core and enables parallel... Read more →

Seaspan Corporation (Seaspan), the leading independent maritime asset owner and operator, and Hapag-Lloyd, one of the largest container shipping lines in the world, have entered into a partnership agreement to retrofit and convert five (5) 10,000 TEU containerships powered by conventional S90-type engines to dual-fuel engines capable of running on... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions has received an order for 3 × MAN 6L21/31DF-M (Dual Fuel-Methanol) GenSets capable of running on methanol in connection with the construction of a 7,990 dwt IMO Type II chemical bunker tanker. The dual-fuel engines will form part of a diesel-electric propulsion system on board the vessel... Read more →

Imabari Shipbuilding will install an MAN B&W 7S60ME-Ammonia engine with SCR in connection with the construction of a 200,000 dwt class bulk carrier for a joint venture between K Line, NS United and Itochu Corporation. The business represents one of the first projects for MAN Energy Solutions’ ammonia-powered engine that... Read more →

Commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus will be the first European truck producer to launch a small series with a hydrogen combustion engine. The initially planned small series of around 200 units is to be delivered to customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland and selected non-European countries as... Read more →

A team from Tsinghua University, with colleagues from BYD research, investigated the impact of NH3 blending on combustion and emission characteristics of a stoichiometric spark-ignition gasoline engine, with a particular emphasis on nitrogen-based emissions. The experimental investigation was complemented by chemical kinetic calculations. A paper on their work is published... Read more →

A team from Iran and Finland has investigated ammonia/diesel RCCI (reactivity-controlled compression ignition) combustion, (earlier post); a paper on their work is published in the journal Fuel. Representation of RCCI engine. Fakhari et al. The reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion mode presents a promising avenue for overcoming the challenges intrinsic... Read more →

BASF is now the first manufacturer to offer AdBlue as a ZeroPCF variant with a certified CO2 footprint (product carbon footprint = PCF) of <0.05 kg per kilogram of AdBlue. This value includes the amount of CO2 emitted in connection with the product during production up to the site gate... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions and Svitzer have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focused on the development of a methanol-fueled version of the MAN 175D engine, designated 175DF-M (Dual Fuel-Methanol). (Earlier post.) The MoU targets the finalization of a field-test agreement based on which a dual-fuel engine and plant equipment will... Read more →

Fortescue, with the support of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), government agencies, research institutes, and industry partners, has successfully conducted the world’s first use of ammonia, in combination with diesel in the combustion process, as a marine fuel onboard the Singapore-flagged ammonia-powered vessel, the Fortescue Green Pioneer,... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions announced that its MAN 51/60DF engine has passed the milestone of 10 million operational hours. The dual-fuel engine has proved popular with 310 engines currently in service—an increase of almost 100 units since 2022. The 51/60DF engine, which can run on a wide variety of fuels including... Read more →

Volkswagen is significantly expanding the range of drive systems that are available for the new Passat: pre-sales of two new plug-in hybrid drives in Europe are now starting. The eHybrid models have outputs of 150 kW (204 PS) and 200 kW (272 PS). Electric ranges are up to 120 km... Read more →

Eaton has launched its next-generation fuel tank isolation valve (FTIV) for hybrid vehicles. The new FTIV is easier to mount, 27% lighter, 39% smaller and contains 24% fewer components than its predecessor. The gasoline engine in a hybrid vehicle does not operate continuously. As a result, hybrid fuel systems require... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions announced the production of a massive Cluster 5 Double Layer SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) catalytic converter for customer, MITSUI E&S Co., Ltd.. The cluster comes ammonia-ready and is the largest such unit that the company has ever built. Such systems are typically used aboard cruise ships and... Read more →

An existing prior customer has extended a contract with Rheinmetall to produce divert-air valves for various engine types. The Düsseldorf-based tech group has been supplying the automaker—one of the largest in Asia—with serially produced divert-air valves ever since 2019. The customer has now extended the contract through to 2032, representing... Read more →

The Volvo Group has signed an agreement according to the previously announced Letter of Intent with Westport Fuel Systems Inc to establish a joint venture to accelerate the commercialization and global adoption of Westport’s High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) fuel system technology for long-haul and off-road applications. (Earlier post.) The... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions’ licensee, MITSUI E&S Co. Ltd., successfully tested a 50-bore (50 cm) MAN B&W two-stroke engine up to 100% load at its Tamano facility while running on hydrogen, a first for the maritime industry. In collaboration with MAN Energy Solutions, MITSUI converted one of the four cylinders of... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions and China Classification Society (CCS) signed a sub-agreement in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) the two parties previously agreed in September 2023 in Beijing. The SFA, on ‘Decarbonization and Digitalization in the maritime industry’, is scheduled to last for five years. The new sub-agreement—the third... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute has developed a natural-gas-fueled medium-duty truck outfitted with a hybrid powertrain that achieved a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over standard diesel powertrains. The vehicle uses an SwRI-designed, spark-ignited natural gas engine coupled with a hybrid powertrain and a 40-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The project was... Read more →

Cummins announced it will launch its most efficient heavy-duty diesel engine ever. As the next product in the Cummins HELM 15-liter fuel agnostic platform, the diesel X15 will be compliant with US EPA and CARB 2027 aligned regulations at launch. The next generation X15 diesel engine in North America will... Read more →

Westport Fuel Systems announced a proof-of-concept project with a leading global supplier of power solutions for marine applications to test Westport’s High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) fuel system utilizing methanol for marine applications. The project, expected to start in the first quarter of 2024, will be fully funded by the... Read more →

Swiss marine power company WinGD and Japanese shipbuilder and technology developer Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. have completed the initial design of an ammonia fuel supply system (AFSS) for vessels powered by WinGD’s X‑DF‑A ammonia-fueled engines. (Earlier post.) The AFSS design is the first result of a wide-ranging partnership announced last... Read more →

Researchers from the Beijing University of Technology have found that the combustion of NH3/H2 can be effectively improved by using turbulent jet ignition (TJI), especially under high NH3 fraction conditions. A paper on their work appears in the journal Fuel. Although NH3 is a potential carbon-free fuel with good storage... Read more →

Toyota Alabama has started production on its i-FORCE 2.4-liter turbo engine line for the all-new Tacoma. Powered by a previous investment of $222 million, the new line furthers Toyota’s commitment to diversified powertrains that align with customer demand, the company said. With Tacoma offering a hybrid option, every line at... Read more →

Honda Marine, a division of Honda Power Sports & Products and marketer of a complete range of four-stroke marine outboard motors from 2.3 to 350 horsepower, outlined how the company is advancing its mission to expand mobility on the water—capitalizing on the technology of Honda worldwide. A team of Honda... Read more →

Yamaha Motor unveiled the world’s first hydrogen-powered outboard for recreational boats along with a prototype fuel system integrated into a vessel that the company plans to further refine for testing later this year. (Earlier post.) The effort is part of Yamaha’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by deploying multiple technology... Read more →

The French shipowner, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS (LDA) and the Finnish mechanical sail company, Norsepower Oy Ltd, announced that the Norsepower Rotor Sail technology will be installed on the new low-emission RoRo fleet to be chartered to Airbus. The Norsepower Rotor Sail is a modernized version of the old Flettner... Read more →

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are partnering with Achates Power, a leader in designing opposed piston, two-stroke compression ignition engines (earlier post), to develop a hydrogen-powered engine primarily for long-haul commercial vehicles. Argonne scientists recently began testing the hydrogen-powered engine in a demonstration that... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute has launched the latest phase of the transportation industry’s longest running commercial vehicle research consortium. (Earlier post.) Building on more than 33 years of research and development, the Clean Highly Efficient Decarbonized Engines 9 (CHEDE-9) consortium has expanded its scope from diesel-engine-focused research to a range of... Read more →

Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) will accelerate its research and development of rotary engines (RE) that are adapted to the new era in its efforts to continue to deliver the joy of cars through solutions that are appropriate for the times toward the realization of a carbon-neutral society. Electric drive unit... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced 27 projects to receive $71 million to develop innovative and equitable clean mobility options, including $10.5 million for three projects focused on research, development, and demonstration of hydrogen combustion engines. These selections are part of a larger $131 million announcement by DOE’s... Read more →

Volvo Trucks is introducing a new engine for its FH16 truck. With up to 780 hp and 3800 N·m, the new 17-litre engine delivers outstanding fuel efficiency and durability. The new engine is certified to run on biofuels. The new engine comes with three power levels; 600 hp, 700 hp... Read more →

Toyota Motor is temporarily suspending shipments of 10 vehicle models equipped with the diesel engines from Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), which are suffering from “certification irregularities.” Toyota Motor had commissioned TICO to develop diesel engines for automobiles. A special investigation into potential irregularities of certification regulationsfound that irregularities occurred during... Read more →

Jan De Nul Group and ABC Engines (Anglo Belgian Corporation) announced their partnership for hybrid marine engines. Both companies signed the order for four 7,200 kW engines and one 1,800 kW engine that can run on (bio)diesel, HVO and methanol. These engines will ensure propulsion of the newest Jan De... Read more →

Yamaha Golf-Car Company (YGC), a consolidated subsidiary of the Yamaha Motor Corporation that sells golf cars in the United States, developed a hydrogen-powered engine golf car concept model, the DRIVE H2. The concept model, the world’s first, is currently exhibited at the Florida-based PGA Show, one of the golf industry’s... Read more →

Volvo Trucks has launched a completely new Volvo VNL in North America. Optimized aerodynamics and new technologies have improved fuel efficiency by up to 10%. The new Volvo VNL is based on an all-new platform for all upcoming technologies, including battery-electric, fuel cell and internal combustion engines running on renewable... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. unveiled STLA Large, its all-new, highly flexible, BEV-native platform that is the foundation for a wide range of upcoming vehicles for global markets in the D and E segments. The platform enables embedded energy, charging efficiency, high-performance vehicle dynamics and Trail Rated off-road driving. Full-size vehicles based on... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $131 million for projects to advance clean mobility, with $71 million from Fiscal Year 2023 project funding (DE-FOA-0002893, earlier post) awarded to 27 projects. In addition, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC) of Southfield, Michigan, will receive $60 million... Read more →

Researchers from Ghent University in Belgium have assessed the applicability of five different pressure-based knock metrics for use with methanol fuel in heavy-duty engines. Their findings, published in a paper in Fuel, highlight the need for dedicated, fuel-specific, knock threshold values. The heavy-duty industry typically uses a high cetane fuel... Read more →

OptiFuel Systems will begin testing a prototype 5600 hp Total-Zero Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Line Haul Locomotive and 2500 hp Total-Zero Powered Tender with 7,500 DGE (diesel gallon equivalent) capacity in January 2025. (Earlier post.) The RNG-powered line haul locomotive produces 5100 hp of continuous power from Cummins RNG engines... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions and Turkey-based Karpowership have signed a contract for the delivery of a total of 48 dual-fuel engines for Karpowership’s fleet of power plant ships (Powerships). The engine order consists of MAN 18V51/60DF dual-fuel engines with a mechanical output of 20.7 MW each. The main advantage of dual... Read more →

Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd. (YPT), a subsidiary of Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd., has begun development of a hydrogen-fueled 4-stroke high-speed engine for power generation for coastal vessels in Japan as part of the Nippon Foundation’s zero-emission ship demonstration experiment. Pilot-ignition 6-cylinder hydrogen engine. In parallel with the hydrogen engine... Read more →

At CES 2024, Bosch reaffirmed its work on components for a hydrogen combustion engine, and said that its H2 engine is due to debut this year. Bosch engineers had to overcome two challenges when developing a new hydrogen injector for direct injection: first, there is no lubrication, which is provided... Read more →

Researchers at Waseda University in Japan, with a colleague from Isuzu Central Research, are proposing electric field-assisted lean NOx reduction for lean-burn engines. An open-access paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Chemical Communications. Lean-burn engines offer lower CO2 emissions, higher thermal efficiency, and better fuel economy... Read more →

Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with colleagues from Shaanxi Diesel Heavy Industry, have investigated the impact of the hydrogen energy fraction (Hfrac), equivalence ratio, and ignition timing on the combustion and emission characteristics of ammonia-hydrogen mixtures at lean combustion conditions in a pre-chamber (PC) marine engine by CFD Simulation.... Read more →

Independent tanker company Euronav NV and CMB NV, its controlling shareholder, entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the shares in CMB.TECH NV for a purchase price of US$1.150 billion in cash. CMB.TECH is a diversified cleantech maritime group. CMB.TECH builds, owns, operates and designs... Read more →

Toyota Motor participated in the IDEMITSU SUPER ENDURANCE SOUTHEAST ASIA TROPHY 2023 (Thailand 10-hour Endurance Race) held on December 22 and 23 at Thailand's Chang International Circuit. Toyota competed with a three-vehicle setup for ROOKIE Racing featuring the ORC ROOKIE GR86 CNF concept, a GR86 running on carbon-neutral fuel; the... Read more →

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, successfully tested a novel, 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) (earlier post) for 251 seconds producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust. The RDRE differs from a traditional rocket engine by generating thrust using a supersonic combustion phenomenon known as... Read more →

NYK will install Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) systems on dual-fuel two-stroke LNG-powered car carriers to be built by Shin Kurushima Dockyard. The first vessel is scheduled to be delivered in 2026. NYK earlier announced it would install the VCR systems on two LNG-fueled coal carriers. (Earlier post.) Cross section view... Read more →