The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article this week about a new type of engine that the major companies, including Daimler Chysler and GM, are working on.
The new technology works by using the compression of the piston to ignite the gasoline instead of a traditional spark plug. Personally, I think this is called a "diesel" engine, but the big key here is that gasoline is used, not a heavier fuel oil. It actually is called HCCI, for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition. It appears that HCCI can yield a 30% efficiency gain over spark gasoline engines. NOx are very low compared to traditional spark gasoline, and the soot associated with oil diesel is not present. Challenges include making the HCCI engine run smoothly and high and low speeds.
Another new technology includes directly and separately injecting gasoline and air into the cylinder to boost effiency. However, so far this has yielded higher NOx and HC emissions.
There is a lot more research that needs to be done to understand these engines and the nature of how they operate, or could operate.
If you're the CEO of an automaker, in today's tough market conditions, how much resources would you allocate to this type of research?