First Ammonia Motors: ammonia-fed engine demonstration in North Carolina
By on September 08, 2025
Click to learn more. First Ammonia Motors successfully demonstrated pure ammonia powering in a modified spark ignition internal combustion engine in a 1993 Chevy Silverado. Source: First Ammonia Motors.
An ammonia-powered spark-ignition internal combustion engine (a modified 6.6L Chevrolet L8T V8 engine) was successfully demonstrated in late June by First Ammonia Motors (FAM), a spin-out of renewable production project developer First Ammonia. The engine powered a 1993 Chevy Silverado 1500 pick-up truck, with the demonstration taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to founding FAM in May 2022, CEO Jim Wall was Director of Powertrain for Hendrick Motorsports: the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history.
Notably, the engine is 100% ammonia-fueled, and has no separate co-fuel requirement to speed up combustion. The design instead utilises heat recycling technology in which the engine’s waste heat is used for onboard ammonia cracking for hydrogen production. The hydrogen is then used as the combustion co-fuel, with the exhaust consisting only of steam and nitrogen. This combustion design strategy is also utilised by engine developers Ammonigy. The vehicle also complies with existing safety standards for road vehicles and was reportedly “indistinguishable to the driver from a gasoline powered truck”.
Further, the vehicle’s refueling duration is the same time as refueling a gasoline car or truck. As the gravimetric and volumetric density of ammonia is 50% lower than that of gasoline, to attain the same range, the FAM vehicle fuel tank would need to be about twice the size of a comparable gasoline vehicle.
Engine exhaust heats some of the incoming ammonia in a heat exchanger catalyst that breaks down ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen. Fuel flows sequentially through the heat exchanger catalyst and then through an electrically heated catalyst. Electric heating produces hydrogen upon startup and at low RPM. FAM’s fuel system continuously delivers a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen for efficient combustion.
First Ammonia Motors official press release, 27 June 2025