An Israeli company claims it could double the range of vehicles for little cost, if only automakers would adopt its technology. According to Agence France-Presse (via phys.org), the Tel Aviv-based Aquaris Engines is in talks with Renault after developing a horizontally oriented single-piston combustion engine that does away with all the hardware one normally sees below the piston head.
No crankshaft or flywheel. No mechanical connection to the drive wheels. Just power produced twice as efficiently as a conventional engine thanks to a “free” piston system. “It is the highest efficiency you will probably meet,” Aquarius co-founder Gal Fridman told AFP. “It has the lowest emissions and the highest power-to-weight ratio.”
The engine Fridman describes sounds an awful lot like a version of the free piston engine “linear generator” under development by Toyota. Word first leaked out about that automaker’s efforts two years ago. Featuring a magnet-wrapped piston connected to a gas spring chamber, the piston generates electric current by moving up and down inside a linear coil. Powering the piston is a simple two-stroke combustion chamber with associated fuel delivery and exhaust hardware.
Revolutionary Piston Engine Could Be Doomed by Lack of Interest
Peugeot tests Israeli range-extender technology in electric car push
Last edited:
