On November 20, 2022, Weichai released the world's first commercial diesel engine with base engine’s thermal efficiency of 52.28% and natural gas engine with base engine’s thermal efficiency of 54.16%. Li Xiaohong, Party Secretary and President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Zhong Zhihua, Party member and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Deng Xiuxin, Vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Ling Wen, Vice governor of Shandong Province and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering attended the new product launch event.

TÜV Sud, an authoritative international testing institution, awarded certificates to the representatives of Weichai's high thermal efficiency engine development team.

Steven Hartong, CEO of Bosch Group, Chris Mason, CEO of International Federation of Automotive Engineers, Walter Downing, COO of Southwest Research Institute, Helmut Lister, CEO of AVL of Austria, Wei Wei, President of Chinese Engine Engineers Association of North America, China Mechanical Engineering Society, China Internal Combustion Engine Society, China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association, etc. Research institutes, industry institutions and strategic partners at home and abroad have sent congratulatory letters and videos.

Since the introduction of the diesel engine 125 years ago, the global industry scientific and technological workers always regarded the improvement of thermal efficiency as the lifelong pursuit of the dream. In September 2020, Weichai released the world's first diesel engine with base engine’s thermal efficiency of 50.23%. In January 2022, Weichai again increased the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine to 51.09%, continuing to lead the global internal combustion engine industry.

Base engine’s thermal efficiency refers to the proportion of diesel combustion energy converted into effective engine output work without relying on waste heat recovery device. The higher the thermal efficiency of the base engine, the better the economy of the engine. Compared with the existing mainstream products in the market (average 46% thermal efficiency diesel engine), the commercial application of 52.28% base engine’s thermal efficiency technology can reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 12% respectively.

Natural gas engine plays an important role in carbon reduction of the internal combustion engine due to its inherent low carbon properties. In 2008, Weichai began to lay out the gas cylinder direct injection technology. In 2012, it successfully developed China's first large-power in-cylinder high-pressure direct injection compressed combustion natural gas engine. Since 2018, the R&D team of Weichai has achieved two huge leaps in the base engine’s thermal efficiency of natural gas engines, exceeding at the industry level of 42% to 45% and 50% in 2020 and 2021 respectively, In November this year, the base engine’s thermal efficiency of a natural gas engine was successfully improved exceeding the industry's highest level of 47.6% to 54.16%, meeting the Euro VI emission standards. This pioneering work will bring huge practical value to the whole society, can be saved fuel costs by more than 20%, carbon emission in the industry reduced by 25% or 30 million tons per year.