EcoMotors to expand operations

Troy, Mich.-based EcoMotors International is moving up in the world. The Khosla Ventures-backed startup, which is developing a diesel engine that it says will deliver 100 miles per gallon by 2011, is moving across town to a bigger space and is expected to start hiring 157 people after Labor Day.

EcoMotors came out of stealth at the beginning of this year, and currently has a staff of seven managers and product development engineers in Troy, with another seven at a research and development center in Goleta, Calif. Khosla's stake in the company has not been revealed (see Khosla-backed Coskata, EcoMotors come out of stealth).

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority granted the company $6.3 million in tax credits for the new location, in a move to win the project over a competing site in California, and the city of Troy just approved a 50 percent tax abatement on the property.

"Over 12 years they're going to save about $79,000," Nino Licari, the city assessor for Troy, told the Cleantech Group.

EcoMotors plans to invest $3.5 million in the new property, with an overall capital investment expected to exceed $7 million.

"They're only leasing about 1,200 square feet right now in an office building. This is a 30,000 square foot engineering facility that they're moving into."

The new space will serve as EcoMotors' research and development headquarters. EcoMotors and Khosla did not return calls for comment, but in filings with the city, EcoMotors said it hopes to have a midsize demonstrator car, achieving 100 miles per gallon, out by February of 2010.

The new building will house its technical research staff and laboratories, including at least two dynamometer cells, used to measure torque and RPM, and a garage facility with four to six hoists. The site was formerly used by Rochester Hills, Mich.-based Hi-LeX Controls, which makes automotive control cables, window regulators and door modules.

EcoMotors is working on a commercial version of an opposed-piston-opposed-cylinder engine that was originally developed for military use by Goleta, Calif.'s Advanced Propulsion Technologies.

Take a look at a diagram of the engine here >>

The engine is comprised of two cylinders per module and each cylinder has two pistons moving in opposite directions, with the crankshaft between the two cylinders. The design eliminates the conventional cylinder head and valve train components, simplifying the engine structure.

EcoMotors has said it already has a prototype for military aircraft and trucks that it says is very efficient for its size, putting out over 130 horsepower per liter. The consumer engines will target the rising demand for vehicles in developing countries.

EcoMotors has a license agreement with Advanced Propulsion Technologies for the efficient engine and said the base design is highly flexible. According to EcoMotors, it can be adapted to use any combustion system, including compression ignition and spark ignition, and can be operated on a wide variety of fuels.

Khosla has put cash into some other car-related companies, with Camarillo, Calif.'s Transonic Combustion, a developer of fuel injection systems, showing up on Khosla's portfolio, as well as a number of battery developers, including Sakti3.

Spun out of the University of Michigan, Sakti3 is looking to develop high-power batteries that can withstand the rigors of automotive use, primarily in electric vehicles.

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