Bill Gates Invests in Cleaner Car Technology

Companies and individuals around the world are looking for better modes of transportation to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels, and Bill Gates is joining that group in a fascinating way: He’s investing in a company that wants to completely rethink, reinvent and redesign the internal combustion engine as we know it.

The cars we drive today hold some of the same essential components as a Model T Ford from 100 years ago; in fact, the core technology of the internal combustion engine is largely a product of the 1800s.

EcoMotors, the company Gates is investing in, is a Detroit-based startup that’s trying to change how our engines operate. But instead of simply changing the kinds of fuel we use, it wants to completely change our cars’ propulsion systems.

The engine the company is trying to build will have less mass, will cost less to make, will be more fuel-efficient and will generate lower emissions. Its first commercial product is the turbo-diesel version of the innovative opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder (opoc) engine, which uses half the parts and is half the size of a traditional automobile engine.

Gates gave the company $23.5 million for its Series B because he thinks the opoc engine could be a big hit in developing areas. “The opoc engine can be an important step in providing affordable, low-emission transportation for the developing world,” he said in a release.

“EcoMotors has developed a promising technology that could help reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions in a low-cost, globally relevant way,” he added.

Also joining Gates in this round is Khosla Ventures, whose greentech investments are being advised by Tony Blair.

For those of you concerned with power, the opoc engines generate about one hp per pound of engine weight. In other words, a 300-pound engine is a 300hp engine — and it packs a high fuel economy, too.

The investments will allow EcoMotors to finish engineering and testing the opoc engine. We could see prototype vehicles as soon as the end of this year and vehicles containing this technology in production in three years’ time.

What do you think: Is Gates onto something exciting here? Would this be a quick, sustainable way to help drivers use less fuel?