WSJ: Oil companies, automakers seek lifeline for internal combustion engine

WSJ: Oil companies, automakers seek lifeline for internal combustion engine

See link at: https://seekingalpha.com/news/33135...kers-seek-lifeline-internal-combustion-engine

Nov. 20, 2017 12:42 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), BP, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and other oil companies are spending millions of dollars per year working with automakers including Ford (NYSE:F) and Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) to improve the internal combustion engine and help it compete with electric vehicles, WSJ reports.

The companies are hoping new, thinner lubricants will help squeeze even more efficiency out of traditional car engines, allowing them to comply with stricter environmental rules and remain relevant as new technologies such as zero-emission electric vehicles emerge.

The efforts come as the combustion engine faces new threats, as countries including the U.K., France, China and India have signaled that they plan to ban sales of vehicles with traditional engines in the coming decades.

“It’s really important that we are able to squeeze the lemon,” said Andrew Hepher, Shell's VP of global commercial technology. “The combustion engine has still got a long way to run.”