Ohio Inventor Works To Bring Fuel-saving Technology To Market

Special to The Auto Channel
From Toledo Free Press

Written by Duane Ramsey | | news@toledofreepress.com

Doug Pelmear of Napoleon is still working to bring his fuel-saving technology that gets vehicles more than 100 miles per gallon (mpg) to market despite challenges he has faced in getting support from banks, automakers and the government.

Pelmear developed his HP2g V-8 electric hybrid engine design, which has achieved 110 mpg in vehicle tests on the highway. The 400-HP engine running on E-85 ethanol fuel performed with emissions better than 2016 requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

He took the design to domestic and foreign automakers for their interest, banks for financing the production of the engine and government groups, such as the EPA, for certification.

“We couldn’t get financed and just recently found out why,” Pelmear said. “My attorney informed me that there was a lien on the wrong company.”

Pelmear owns two companies, Horsepower Sales and HP2g. He had a loan from the Henry County Commissioners through Horsepower Sales, but the lien was placed on HP2g in 2010 instead, according to Pelmear.

The banks wouldn’t consider HP2g for financing because of the lien. Pelmear had automakers interested in his technology but they wouldn’t get involved with him due to the lien on HP2g.

“I’m an inventor, not a businessman,” Pelmear said, explaining why he didn’t understand what the problem was.

He reported that his attorney is working with Henry County officials to remove the lien from HP2g and have it placed it on Horsepower Sales as should have occurred originally.

Pelmear said that the State of Ohio was willing to help fund the HP2g project if a bank was willing to finance the balance. He later learned that the banks would not finance his project due to the lien on HP2g.

“I’m trying to move forward with this product and get it to market. The HP2g engine is more than just an idea, it’s a reality. It’s a solution for independence from oil and it would create jobs,” Pelmear said.

He reported the company has international patents pending on the HP2g technology in the U.S. and China.

“I had to make a sellable product to put on vehicles without replacing the entire engine,” he said.

Pelmear is looking to market the Skip Fire management system designed for the HP2g engine. Skip Fire is capable of operating an engine on any number of cylinders upon demand, he said.

“We reprogram computers on cars, light trucks and even semi-trucks to have variable displacement with our Skip Fire technology that is different than variable displacement currently on the market. It drastically changes how the engine works,” he said.

The Skip Fire’s variable displacement shuts off fuel to cylinders and rotates the firing of cylinders after normal engine operation temperature. The engine is still opening and closing the valves bringing in cool outside air which is introduced to a hot cylinder, according to Pelmear. This allows the air to expand making the engine equivalent to the Stirling Engine developed in 1816, he said.

Pelmear believes the Skip Fire technology is unparalleled in the automotive and transportation industry and is far advanced from the variable displacement systems currently used by original equipment manufacturers today. The current systems fall short of the fuel savings and emission reductions achieved by the Skip Fire technology, Pelmear said.

He recently demonstrated the Skip Fire technology and how it works on a semi-truck on the Motorhead Garage program on Fox Sports television.

HP2g is running tests of the Skip Fire system on cars and light trucks. In testing it on targeted vehicles, fuel costs have been reduced by as much as 33 percent, Pelmear reported.

“We have it on a diesel engine in a car that averages 65 mpg,” he said.

Pelmear needs to test it on 250 vehicles as part of the requirements for EPA certification. He began testing it on vehicles through his contacts on the LinkedIn network, but still needs more vehicles for testing.

Anyone interested in being part of the testing, email team@hp2g.com for more details.