As we've said before, not all advances in cleaner engine technology have to do with plug-in hybrids or all-electric powertrains. Some folks have spent their time developing serious advances to the good old internal-combustion engine. One such company, EcoMotors in Troy, Mich., just got a significant amount of financial help toward making its own version of a cleaner ICE, known as opoc (registered trademark), a reality thanks to a name you might recognize: Bill Gates. (For blatantly obvious full-disclosure purposes, we'll note that Gates is the founder and chairman of Microsoft, which owns this here blog.) Gates and Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla, for whose Khosla Ventures firm EcoMotors is a portfolio client, have reportedly invested $23.5 million in Series B funding for the company.
EcoMotors' opoc technology is an opposed piston and cylinder technology developed by Peter Hofbauer, previous head of powertrain development for VW, who spearheaded development of the company's signature clean-diesel technology. EcoMotors reports its opoc engine not only weighs 50 percent less than other ICEs while using 50 percent less fuel, but is more universally adaptable across a range of countries because it requires no serious infrastructure investment -- as with hybrids or electrics -- and can therefore have a more immediate and relevant impact on cutting emissions.
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