China’s Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) announced recently that it has developed an engine that runs on ammonia as an alternative to gasoline and other fossil fuels.
This will be the first-ever car engine to have an ammonia-powered engine that provides a cleaner carbon-free energy solution.
The Chinese automobile brand says it overcame the difficult aspect of ammonia being unable to burn quickly, allowing it to debut that tech in the passenger car industry.
GAC says it is excited about the value this development brings to society and the potential commercial uses. The new ammonia-powered engine was unveiled as part of GAC’s annual technology showcase.
The new GAC ammonia engine GAC had to overcome the low flammability and high nitrogen oxide emission in the development of the engine.
It says the 2.0-liter engine can burn liquid ammonia in a safe and more efficient manner. The engine is capable of achieving 120kW of power and a 90% reduction in carbon emissions.
Safety concerns over ammonia engine in cars
Work on ammonia as an alternative energy solution in cars had previously been focused mainly on heavy-duty vehicles like trucks.
Ammonia being a toxic substance, required a high-safety architecture that was previously unavailable in passenger cars. Safety protocols for ammonia are already in place for some industries in the handling and transportation of ammonia, which has long been used as a fertilizer.
GAC hopes to deploy its ammonia-based car engine technology on a larger scale commercially very soon.
Such a vehicle will however need to scale several safety requirements from regulatory bodies before it becomes a reality.
Bloomberg notes that GAC will face other challenges if it truly wants to bring ammonia engines to the auto world – not the least of which will be a complete lack of fueling infrastructure, although this might give the industry breathing room to create a fueling system that’ll keep humans safe from this highly toxic substance.
It adds that efforts to make ammonia-powered cars started a decade ago when researchers at the Korean Institute for Energy Research built and tested a car called AmVeh, which ran on 70% ammonia, 30% gasoline.
It cut down carbon emissions by 70%, and at the time, the AmVeh team was definitely focused on the idea of a fully ammonia-fueled engine.
The GAC Group, founded in 1954, is currently the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in China, with 2.144 million sales in 2021.
The company produces and sells vehicles under its own branding, such as Trumpchi, Aion, Hycan as well as under foreign-branded joint ventures such as GAC-Toyota, GAC-Honda, and GAC-Mitsubishi.
It also produces electric vehicles under some of the previously listed brandings, including dedicated EV brands such as Aion and Hycan.
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