Horse Powertrain popped up on my radar this month as it trotted out its new C15 engine at the IAA Mobility show in Germany. The C15 is a 1.5-liter four-cylinder the size of carry-on luggage that makes almost 100 horsepower, designed to be a range extender for EVs. Days later, I saw a Caterham Seven running a Horse engine in an entirely different capacity. Suddenly, I became very curious about this company, and thought you might be too. Here’s a quick download on who they are and what they’re about.
I had never heard of Horse before this month, but it’s no small upstart—it’s already turning out about eight million powertrains a year. Based in Madrid, Spain, the company has 17 manufacturing plants and five R&D offices across Europe, South America, and Asia. “Horse Powertrain is an independent powertrain technology leader, built on 125 years of heritage from Renault and Geely. We bring together expertise, innovation and global reach to deliver innovative ICE and hybrid powertrain solutions,” is the logline.
Horse started life as a Renault (French) and Geely (Chinese) joint venture. Today, it’s an independent company with three shareholders: Renault (45% stake), Geely (45% stake), and, as of last year, Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s powerful state-owned oil company (10% stake).
Horse makes the gasoline/hybrid powertrains for Renault and Geely, but also does business with other OEMs. For example, the hybrid third-gen Mercedes CLA has Horse tech under the hood. Horse has also supplied Volvo, Proton, Nissan, and Mitsubishi with powertrain components.
When I saw “briefcase-sized engine,” I got excited thinking it might be the perfect heart for a sweet go-kart, but the company doesn’t have a direct-to-consumer business; it’s an OEM supplier. The main point of the C15 is to let OEMs focus on their battery-electric platforms without having to do their own R&D to develop a compact engine range extender on their own. The C15 is designed to be modular and adaptable to fit in different-sized vehicular compartments, and a turbocharged version will be available for larger vehicles.
The company didn’t share a weight spec for the little engine in its press release or IAA press conference, but I’d expect it’s between 150 and 300 pounds.
While there could be a world where these engines are dropped into existing EVs as aftermarket range extenders, the idea is for them to be integrated with new car development from the jump. The C15’s packaging, which just just 19.7 inches by 21.7 inches by 10.8 inches, includes a generator, exhaust, and cooling provisions. Of course, each OEM would have to figure out its own exhaust routing after the manifold to make sure the engine’s emissions leave the car. That’s bigger than most “briefcases” I’ve seen, but it’d still fit in travel luggage.
As for Horse’s more traditional car-engine applications, like what’s powering Caterhams in the Piston Heads story I referenced earlier, that’s part of the company’s business, too. That particular mill is the HR13DDT, which is run in the Dacia Duster, Nissan Qashqai, and Mercedes A-Class in Europe. Caterham Academy, an incredibly cool novice driver program that lets you learn racecraft with one of its superlight sports cars, used to run Ford Sigma engines. But since those are no longer made new, Horse has stepped in as the supplier. I’m mentioning that again because it’s the closest Horse gets right now to selling motors for an enthusiast/DIY-adjacent situation.
Here’s a closer look at that Academy car because, well, it’s cool:
I personally think range-extended EVs will gain prevalence in the near future. As battery energy density improves, we could soon find ourselves at a point where electric cars not only have comparable range to gasoline cars, but when paired with a range extender, could far out-cruise the powertrains of today between plug-ins. If that turns out to be true, you might start seeing Horse engines in even more vehicles.
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Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.