Weichai launches a 53% BTE heavy-duty diesel engine

22 April 2024

China’s Weichai Power has unveiled the first heavy-duty high-speed diesel engine in the world to have a brake thermal efficiency (BTE) above 53%.

At the 2024 World Congress on Internal Combustion Engines in Tianjin, China, the company showcased a heavy-duty diesel engine with a BTE of 53.09%. This achievement was officially recognized by the German testing organization TÜV SÜD and by China Automotive Technology & Research Center. Both organizations issued product testing reports and certificates to Weichai Power, confirming the company’s new world record in diesel engine thermal efficiency.

In 2020, Weichai launched a 50% BTE diesel engine meeting China VI and Euro VI emission requirements. In 2022, the company launched a commercial diesel engine with efficiency above 52%.

Building on these previous achievements, Weichai Power’s research team further refined four critical systems: combustion, air intake, fuel delivery, and friction reduction. The team advanced high-expansion combustion, mixed-flow pressurization, high-efficiency fuel injection, and low-resistance friction-reducing technologies—Weichai said. These developments, achieved through incremental gains of 0.1% at each step, allowed to break through the 53% thermal efficiency barrier.

The announcement by Weichai Power did not specify the criteria pollutant emission levels or standards of the new 53% BTE diesel engine.

Current state-of-the-art heavy-duty diesel engines by US and European manufacturers reach peak BTE levels of about 46-48%.

Source: Weichai Power