The Knoxville, Tenn.-based National Transportation Research Center will receive $500,000 in federal research funding to test the Legacy rotary engine, a new type of rotary diesel engine for the trucking industry.


According to the NTRCI, "The Legacy engine configuration is ideally suited for hybrid applications and offers significant advances over conventional internal combustion engines in fuel economy, reduced emissions, and lower cost of ownership… the Legacy engine will demonstrate an increase in overall efficiency greater than 20 percent compared to any conventional engine."

The funding was announced Friday by Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.), a longtime member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

"It is no secret that our nation's infrastructure is in dire need of repair," Duncan said. "But what many may not realize, is that much of the technology that will be used to modernize our highways and enhance vehicle efficiency is coming right out of the NTRCI here in Knoxville."

The NTRCI is a not-for-profit research center that works to promote the development and deployment of advanced transportation technologies through research, testing and commercialization for the benefit of the transportation industry and our transportation systems.