ACHATES POWERS toward production

A potential ICE game-changer, the Achates OP engine is being tooled up for production at one OEM while a new 2.7-L triple for light-truck demonstrations enters the build phase.

Nothing short of a game-changing technology has any chance of disrupting the world's combustion-engine mainstream, it is generally believed. Felix Wankel's rotary came the closest, carving out a successful niche at Mazda after GM spent millions tooling up for, then killing, its own high-volume rotary program in the 1970s. Now comes Achates Power, the San Diego technology company that has brought its opposed-piston, 2-stroke, compression-ignition engine to the brink of production after 13 years of careful and relentless development.

At January's 2017 Detroit auto show, Achates' top engineers made two promising announcements. First, one of the company's nine global OEM customers has begun tooling an engine plant for serial production of an Achates ‘OP’ engine. While no details or timing were provided, Achates' current customer base includes applications for passenger-vehicle, light and heavy commercial vehicle, military and marine/stationary power. The engine programs span a broad range of fuel strategies and configurations-from 50-hp (37 kW) single-cylinder units to 5000-hp (3768-kW) twelve-cylinder monsters aimed at stationary and marine use. Development also includes a gasoline compression-ignition program (see sidebar).