On September 16, 2020, Weichai Group, a leader in China's equipment manufacturing industry, held a press conference in Jinan, Shandong, and officially released the world's first commercial diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of over 50%. The China Automotive Technology Research Center Co., Ltd., the national testing agency for internal combustion engines in China, and TÜV SÜD, an international authoritative testing agency for internal combustion engines, awarded Weichai a certificate with a thermal efficiency of 50.26%.

This is an important moment in the development history of Weichai's technological innovation and a milestone in the world's internal combustion engine industry. Weichai people once again shocked their global counterparts with their strength. Since 1897, the world's first diesel engine was successfully launched. After a hundred years of transformation and upgrading and the application of new technologies, until today, the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine has increased from 26% to 46%. It can be said that increasing the thermal efficiency to 50% or higher is the pursuit goal of today's global engine manufacturers, and it is also an important manifestation of market and technological competitiveness.

However, the improvement of the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines is an extremely complex systematic project, especially with the increasingly stringent emission regulations, the improvement of thermal efficiency has encountered a huge bottleneck. Faced with this worldwide problem, Weichai has created five proprietary technologies-collaborative combustion technology, coordinated design technology, exhaust energy distribution technology, partitioned lubrication technology, and intelligent control technology, which effectively solve high-efficiency combustion, low heat transfer, high A series of world-class problems such as reliability, low friction loss, low pollutant emission, intelligent control, etc., make the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine body reach 50.26%, and meet the national VI/Europe VI emission requirements. It is the first to have mass production and commercialization conditions in the world. .

Mastering core technology is by no means a matter of time. It requires great courage and the perseverance to "grind a sword in ten years". Wang Zhijian, vice president of Weichai Power, recalled to reporters the difficulties encountered at the beginning of the project: “There are many doubts, and top foreign consulting agencies also hold a doubtful attitude. Not only must achieve the National VI emissions, but also achieve 50% of the engine body. The thermal efficiency is very difficult, and they thought it was an impossible task."

But this R&D team with post-80s and post-90s doctors as the backbone force, the newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, dare to challenge, persevere, and use actions to refresh the world's internal combustion engine technology to a new level. "We can say that we have entered no man’s land, and there is no information at home and abroad to refer to. At this stage, the comparison is basic skills, forward-looking technical reserves, and control of details, not letting go of every technical difficulty that can be unearthed. The realization of 50% thermal efficiency is the accumulation of many 0.1%.” said Guo Shenggang, vice president of Weichai Power Engine Research Institute. Industry insiders describe Weichai’s innovative feat as if it ran in 10 seconds from 100 meters for the first time in human history. Volkmar Dunner, Chairman and CEO of Bosch Group, a global auto parts supplier, spoke highly of Weichai’s successful breakthrough of 50% thermal efficiency: This is an achievement of great significance, and this is the history of diesel engine development. This historic breakthrough has set a new benchmark for the thermal efficiency of global diesel engines; with this innovation, Weichai has truly become a world-class diesel engine manufacturer.Editor/Luo Wentao