Thomas Weber, head of research, technology and development at Mercedes-Benz, claims the Stuttgart-based company is developing a powerplant that combines the best attributes of petrol and diesel engines and runs on synthetic fuels.

Thomas Weber, head of research, technology and development at Mercedes-Benz, claims the Stuttgart-based company is developing a powerplant that combines the best attributes of petrol and diesel engines and runs on synthetic fuels.


“Step by step, the components of diesel and petrol engines are growing closer: the combustion process, common-rail direct injection and turbocharging. In the end, we believe this development will see the complete integration of the two engines into one type which combines the best of both,” Dr Weber said.


Weber revealed that Mercedes was working on such an engine, without spark plugs, that runs on synthetic fuels. It reportedly has a compression ratio of between the current petrol’s (about 10.0:1) and diesel’s (about 18.0:1), writes.


The catchword for the new development is known as “diesotto”, a word that combines the names of Rudolph Diesel and Nikolaus Otto, the two German inventors of the diesel and four-stroke Otto-cycle petrol engines respectively.


“By combining both, the savings are huge,” Weber said. “You can imagine the advantages in investment and meeting emissions. This is our vision for the future”.


Weber is convinced that only manufacturers with exhaustive knowledge of the diesel engine technology have a chance of developing something such as the “diesotto” engine.


“The only step is to go through the diesel world,” he said. “There is no chance without that.


Weber said ‘Benz’s investment on petrol/diesel engines was currently split 50/50. “After our work on the new V6 CDi diesel, there is probably going to be a shift back to petrol engines,” he admitted, citing work on second-generation, turbocharged direct-injection petrol engines that deliver a 10 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, a British source reported.

Original article from Car