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EcoMotors is developing a diesel engine that it says will let cars travel 100 miles per gallon by 2011 -- a good fifty per cent better than the Toyota Prius, and double your bog-standard UK banger.
The company will be explaining its plans at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, later this week.
Khosla Ventures has invested in the company. The firm also has an interest in Transonic Combustion, which has developed a fuel injection system for getting diesels (as well as other types of engines) to go 100 miles per gallon. The trick is to burn the fuel far more efficiently. That gassy smell that often comes out of diesel engines is uncombusted fuel. VCs often persuade their companies to work together, so you may one day see collaboration between EcoMotors and Transonic -- if it isn't occurring already.
EcoMotors is run by Peter Hofbauer. The company says that members of its engineering team have been designing since 1967, or about the time Hot Wheels were invented. Company employees have worked on high-level projects at Volkswagen, Ford, and Daimler Benz.
The X Prize Foundation, meanwhile, is holding a contest for ecologically friendly vehicles. The winner will be the group that can come up with a car that hits the 100 mpg mark, but in a car that is affordable -- and they are serious about the affordable part, the organisers have said.
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