Engines

Selection

OSE's 2020 choice for an engine is the Poulan 19 hp x4 for 74 hp - [1]

Gas

The threshold for relatively inexpensive engines is 19 hp.

• 27 hp - $980 - $36/hp - [2]. And needs muffler.
• 24 hp - $870 - $36/hp [3]
• 22 hp - Briggs - $29/hp - [4]
• 20 hp - Kohler $700 - $35/hp + muffler - [5]
• 19 hp Poulan - - $20.5/hp - $390 - [6]
• 16 hp - $350 - Poulan - [7]
• 16hp - $330 - Duromax, $20.6/hp - [8]
• 7 hp - $99 - $14/hp - but no electric start - [9]

Diesel

• 30 hp Kubota $5000 - $166/hp [10]
• 33 hp Kubota - $6500 [11]
• 65 HP - $6300 - $100/hp [12]
• 200 hp - $55/HP - $11k - Cummins - [13]
• 360 HP Mack used - $10/HP - $3600

Considerations

• Until an open source engine becomes a reality, engine repair is expensive. $50/hr, easily comes to the new engine price for the $300 gas engine. This indicates that small engines are essentially disposable goods.
• For the large diesel engine, parts are expensive.
• Until the advent of the open source diesel engine, engine costs remain 10x as high as they should be.
• Until the OS engine, disposable engines are a suboptimal but acceptable strategy to keep costs of engine systems low.
• It is an immediate priority of OSE to develop open source small engines, $11B market (see Market Size) and larger ones are more like 200 billion

Engine Links

1. 500 &U 1000 hour lifetime for small engines - [14]
2. 2000-4000 year life of car engines [15] - 150k miles
3. Tractor engines - 5-10k hours [16]
4. Pellet-fired stirling engine buggy - see PDF file
5. Several links to various engine types including Sterling, Wankel, Steam, etc. [17].