[decimon]

175kw = 235 HP

400N.m. = 295 lb/ft

6 l/100 km = 39.2 MPG

How heavy is a current S-Class?

[Tarantulas]

I’ll bet that “sparkles ignition system” looks really snazzy, especially at night!

[Uncle Miltie]

"The Stuttgart company’s DiesOtto concept"

Didn't we already have one of those:

[P-40]

the engine makes use of a sparkles ignition system

[Hazwaste]

Arranging...chairs...Titanic.

I know we need to stretch the fossil fuel thing out, but I’m getting a little nervous that we’re clinging to a dying technology with no single energy source being promising enough to take over when the price of fossil fuel exceeds most people’s ability to pay.

There’s the promise of nuclear power plants and electric cars using some future battery technology, but it takes 10 years to build a nuke due to regulations and protests.

We’re going to regulate and protest ourselves into the stone age.

[alloysteel]

A combination spark-ignition/Diesel engine was actually built by International Harvester back in the late 1940’s, and installed on the Farmall “M” series tractor. The design was a switch between gasoline spark-ignition, on which the engine was started up, then, while running, a lever was engaged that pushed a slide-through casting that effectively reduced the volume of the combustion chamber, raising the compression ratio, sealing off the spark plug, and starting the injection pump on the Diesel operation. The sealed-off spark plug was switched off from firing, and the engine went on full Diesel operation. The original reasoning was that Diesels were notoriously hard to start from cold, and took a HUGE starter motor, using about 24 volts, to get the first charge ignited on the Diesel. This compromise made it possible to start the engine with a 6-volt system, or a hand crank if necessary, then enjoy the virtues of higher thermodynamic efficiency once the engine was running.

There never were very many of these old “MD” semi-Diesels around, as they were a pretty finicky piece of machinery. But when they ran right, they could beat the gasoline model for pulling power and relative fuel economy under load.

[LeGrande]

1.8 liter engine, 235 hp? I wonder what rpm and how many inches of pressure they use.

I would be willing to bet that if they let me put it on my dyno the hp wouldn’t be any better than 150 or so. Now if it is turbocharged and running 9000 rpm, maybe.