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110-MPG Wonder Engine Quits the X Prize
By Ben Mack June 4, 2009 | 8:04 pm | Categories: Alt Fuel
An Ohio entrepreneur who claims to have developed a 400-horsepower wonder engine that gets 110 mpg has withdrawn from the Progressive X Prize competition just days after opening a factory to produce the super motor.

Doug Pelmear, president and CEO of HP2G, said it is “no longer in the company’s best interests to compete in or be associated with the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition.”

And why not?

Well, for one thing, the prize has been cut from $7.5 million to $5 million, he says in a statement posted Thursday. And then there’s the fact that the competition has been moved from this summer to next summer, which doesn’t fit “into the business plan and business timeline” of his company because he wants to be selling engines by that time. He also accuses the X Prize of “a problematic conflict of interest” because it allowed one of the teams to have a say in crafting the rules.

We’ve been looking forward to seeing HP2G compete in the X Prize, if only because Pelmear might finally explain how he’s getting triple-digit fuel economy doing 70 mph in an ‘87 Mustang (pictured) powered by a 400-horsepower V8 engine that burns E-85. There’s a lot of skepticism about his performance claims, but Pelmear is forging ahead. He opened a factory in Wauseon, Ohio, on Monday and says he’ll build 500 engines this year.

“Ohio has a lot of people with qualified experience working in the automotive industry. It’s also where we’re currently based and is therefore a natural fit,” Pelmear told Wired.com. “We plan to take this revolutionary technology abroad, but I want production to stay in and benefit the US.”


Pelmear has been peddling the E-85 super engine in his Mustang for awhile now, driving it long distances to prove its fuel economy and bringing it to the Detroit auto show to get some exposure. But so far he hasn’t offered much of an explanation about how the engine works or how he’s getting such great fuel economy. That didn’t keep local politicians from doing the grip-and-grin with Pelmear on Monday.

“I just want to add my voice to what I’m sure the other officials are saying,” Ohio state Sen. Steve Buehrer said, according to the Van Wert Times Bulletin. “We have a business starting on a day when at times we want to be overwhelmed with the bleak news of the economy and certainly the auto industry. This is an exciting opportunity for I think all of northwest Ohio.”

Pelmear claims his engine is based on a design his grandfather came up with in the 1940s, but he didn’t bother displaying one at the factory opening, the Bulletin reported.

All he’ll say is the engine, which he’s spent a decade developing, decreases heat to increase efficiency to a point where there is no need to use a catalytic converter. He claims to have run the engine on an EPA dynamometer and recorded rock-bottom emissions ratings that are less than half those of current cars.

But wait. There’s more. Pelmear says his engine will cost about the same as the one you’re using now.

“My engine does away with a lot parts used in present-day engines, like the catalytic converter,” he told us. “This therefore offsets any substantial price increase created by the development of new technology.”

The company plans to sell its engine globally, but it is still in the process of seeking an international patent. Pelmear says several foreign automakers are interested in the engine, but of course didn’t identify any of them.

Still, he’s caught the attention of Revenge Designs, an Indiana firm that wants to use the HP2G engine in the Verde luxury sports sedan (pictured) it plans to bring to the Los Angeles Auto Show.

“Years back, I met Doug Pelmear at an auto show,” Peter Collofari, the company’s president and CEO, told Wired.com. “He informed me of the development of his new engine and then for some years after that I tried to assist him with his project in whatever way I could. On account of our long standing relationship, I think we both can agree that this is a good marriage.”

We’ll wait until we’ve seen the first child of that marriage before agreeing with that.

Photo: HP2G. Rendering: Revenge Designs
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/wonder-engine/