This jaw-dropper is the Wärtsilä RT-flex96C, the world’s largest and most powerful diesel engine.
Built in Finland, the RT-flex96C’s fourteen cylinders can generate 107,389HP with more than 7,000,000Nm of torque — that’s enough to power an entire suburban town.
The engine weighs 2,300 tons and stands 44-feet tall and 90-feet long – more than a four-story building. Redline is at 102 RPM, but the torque is enough to tear a tank to shreds.
How’s that for a turbo boost?
Each of the 14 built-in cylinders devours 6.5 ounces of diesel in one cycle that produces 5700 kW of energy. That might sound like a lot, but the engine is actually highly efficient and one of the least polluting of its kind.
You might wonder what kind of behemoth would need so much power. In 2006, the Wärtsilä RT-flex96C engine was installed and finally set sail on the Emma Mærsk, a cargo ship that can carry 11,000 20-foot shipping containers at a breakneck speed of 31 knots, whereas most other ships in its class typically cruise with 20 knots.
Container ship Emma Maersk in Hamburg, June 2014. Credit: Hummelhummel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The ship regularly ferries cargo from China to the U.S, which it can deliver four days earlier than its competition, saving a lot of money. There are currently 25 such engines roaming the world’s oceans, and another 86 are on the way.
What the engine looks like installed in the ship.
All in all, this is one of the most amazing feats of human engineering.
