Weichai strikes again!

Weichai has established itself on the onroad and offhighway applications scene as the champion of ICE revitalization. Record after record, through cooperation with Bosch, Weichai pursues the goal of improving the efficiency of the internal combustion engine.

Weichai achieved the 53,09% efficiency goal

At the 2024 World Congress on Internal Combustion Engines in Tianjin, China, Weichai Power upgraded its own previous thermal efficiency record. Now the bar raised at 53.09%. The certifying organizations for this latest improvement in the capacity to turn mechanical energy into kinetic energy, thus optimizing combustion and thermodynamic parameters, are TÜV SÜD and the China Automotive Technology & Research Center. Dating back to 2020 is the first announcement of 50.26% efficiency. A strategy common to major engine players, starting with Caterpillar, Cummins, Perkins, and Scania, which will also win Diesel of the year 2023 because of this engineering approach. In an effort to continually update the resources available for the energy transition, the principle of efficiency above 50% has also been applied by Weichai to gas engines. In November of 2022, the thermal efficiency of natural gas base engines was improved to 54.16% meeting China VI emission standards.

Summarizing milestones

Since 2015, Weichai Power has convened a research team focused on high-thermal efficiency engines.

Weichai Power’s research team dedicated more than 500 days of focused effort to further refine four critical systems: combustion, air intake, fuel delivery, and friction reduction. The team successfully advanced high-expansion combustion, mixed-flow pressurization, high-efficiency fuel injection, and low-resistance friction- reducing technologies. During this research and development process, the team was granted 176 invention patents and 68 utility model patents. On September 16, 2020, the company achieved a noteworthy milestone by unveiling a diesel engine with a groundbreaking body thermal efficiency of 50.23%. Continuing their impressive trajectory, they boosted the engine’s thermal efficiency to 51.09% on January 8, 2022. Most recently, on November 20, 2022, Weichai Power reached an outstanding 52.28% thermal efficiency.

According to the Company

Based on current estimates of Chinese diesel engine ownership, upgrading from a thermal efficiency level of 45-46% to 53% can improve the diesel engine economy by approximately 14%. This advancement translates to annual fuel savings of around 31 million tons and a reduction in carbon emissions of approximately 97 million tons. For a heavy-duty tractor that travels 250,000 km annually, this improvement can save roughly 12,000 liters of diesel fuel each year.