“This agreement is a key milestone in bringing our innovative engine technology to market.”
Zhongding Power and EcoMotors today announced an agreement to produce engines in Anhui Province China. The plant represents an investment by Zhongding of more than $200 million and will have a capacity of about 150,000 “Opoc” engines per year when production begins in 2014. EcoMotors claims Opoc engines can deliver the same power level as conventional engines at half the size, lower cost, all the while producing lower emissions.
Zhongding plans to supply Opoc engines to makers of power generators, and off-road and commercial vehicles. The agreement allocates a portion of the plant’s output to EcoMotors for sale and distribution to its own direct customers.
“This agreement is a key milestone in bringing our innovative engine technology to market and underscores the potent disruptive force that is Opoc,” said Don Runkle, CEO of EcoMotors who was former Vice Chairman of Delphi and a 30-year executive at General Motors.
EcoMotors’ primary investors are Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates and Braemar Energy Ventures. Vinod Khosla, who founded the firm in 2004, is a founder of Sun Microsystems and was formerly a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
