Runkle notes, "What we have here is the cell phone of engines. Why would any new manufacturer bother reinventing a standard four, V-6, or V-8 engine when they can obtain an OPOC power source from EcoMotors that's vastly superior in terms of cost, efficiency, and environmental footprint?"
If EcoMotors succeeds according to plan, Runkle hopes to put a shuttered GM engine plant in Livonia, Michigan, back to work building innovative engines. His goal is to put the motor back into the Motor City, thereby reviving Detroit's reputation as a global center of automotive excellence.
While the arrival of electric propulsion will surely help uplift the automobile's reputation as a resource consumer and pollution generator, major obstacles lie ahead. Advanced batteries and new electrical generating infrastructure are frightfully expensive. That leaves ample opportunity for a new generation of internal combustion engines - such as the OPOC two-stroke - to pitch in with clean and cost effective propulsion power. In all likelihood, heat engines will serve a crucial role in the global personal transportation system for decades to come.