What Is A Camless Engine And Which Cars Have One?

Maybe you're one of those drivers who loves to tinker around under the hood. Perhaps, instead, you feel safer hurrying off to a professional whenever something seems amiss. You don't need to be an engine expert, though, to have a grasp of the fundamentals. Of the many pieces that make up an ICE, one of the most important is the camshaft. These tube-like components come in different varieties, but their basic role is to facilitate the action of the valve, closing and opening at the right times to keep air flowing in and to allow egress of the gases that are the by-product of the engine's work.

Most engines have camshafts, not to be confused with crankshafts, whether singular or plural, but there are some interesting minority cases that don't use them. The first, of course, is in the case of the EV, which doesn't have any need for the component because there's no air and exhaust combination to regulate in this way (unlike a hybrid, which still uses an ICE element too). The other is the camless engine, which doesn't utilize camshafts at all. It's perhaps best known as the 'Freevalve' engine, a fascinating concept engine that is still powered by gas. 

The interesting thing, then, is exactly how it operates without camshafts. We'll take a closer look at the process, as well as some of the unique models that sport one of these fascinating engines and some of the potential pros and cons of the technology more broadly. 

Such an engine still requires a means of closing and opening its valves as required. What these engines offer is a far closer degree of control. Freevalve describes the notion as "fully variable valve actuation," and though it sounds rather complicated, the meaning is simple: separate valves can be set to act differently, or independently, from the others. 

In place of the camshafts, it uses a series of actuators, pistons that are activated via compressed air. It's a versatile system that, in short, allows each small element of the engine to perform at its best at any given moment. It's supported in this endeavor by a power that's becoming something of a ubiquitous buzzword in today's technological era: AI. Adapting to road conditions and other parameters, the engine can operate those valves in a manner that will be most conducive to efficient operation. 

Freevalve, in working with a 1.6-liter Qoros engine, found that considerable advantages were to be had from the cam-free concept. Torque and power, according to the company, were both boosted by almost 50% – 47% and 45%, respectively — when it was employed, and the Freevalve tech was able to reduce the profile of the Qoros engine by 3,500 square mm and a full 20 kilograms in weight. With an engine being one of the largest overall contributors to a vehicle's weight, the ability to reduce its profile significantly without detriment is an enormous and almost irresistible boon.

One vehicle that utilizes camless technology is that fascinating hybrid family car, the Koenigsegg Gemera. It can hit up to 2,300 horsepower when equipped with the Dark Matter e-motor and the premium five-liter V-8 (the latter of which contributes 1500 of that horsepower). Adding this engine doesn't come cheaply, though: It'll cost the equivalent of approximately $427,000 to add the engine. 

Still, those in the market for a Gemera, which costs a cool $1,760,000, might not balk at the idea of dropping a meager $400k extra. Anyway, super-high specs are great to admire on paper, but it's another engine option and another piece of Koenigsegg technology, the Freevalve engine, that makes it unique. It can achieve 248 mph with its camless Tiny Friendly Giant engine (so named for its mix of power and compact stature) equipped, with a 0-60 of under two seconds. It's remarkably fast for a three-cylinder vehicle. With any innovative technology, however, there will be wary customers.

The Tiny Friendly Giant wasn't the first choice for many who were interested in the Gemera. In fact, Christian von Koenigsegg told Top Gear in July 2024, "There were so few left that asked for a three-cylinder, we managed to convince almost all of them [to go for the V8 instead]. So for the time being, it [the Gemera] is V8 only." Nevertheless, the technology was used in the model, and it would later demonstrate how versatile it could be in different kinds of vehicles. 

The striking Gemera isn't just a specs-packed hypercar for enthusiasts to drool over. With its Freevalve engine, it could also help to pave the way towards intriguing, more efficient engines of the future. 

The Freevalve engine was first seen in a functional capacity equipped in the Qoros 3 (the Qoros 3 Hatch is pictured here), in November of 2016. That year's Guangzhou Motor Show would feature a demonstration of the engine in action, and before the event, Freevalve wasted no time in boasting about the capacities the technology has. Auto Evolution quotes Freevalve AB CEO Urban Carlson as stating that the engine "offers Qoros significant savings in emissions, cost, and weight," as well as "a near 50 percent increase in both power and torque, while actually reducing fuel consumption."

The version equipped to this first Qoros to display the engine was a turbocharged 1.6L, good for 236 lb-ft torque. Its 230 horsepower would hardly trouble the Gemera, but the relatively humble Chinese model (and its Freevalve-derived Qamfree engine) was a fascinating proof of concept, and maybe an important one too. Here is a style of engine, it seems, that can be a fit for conventional vehicles, as well as a phenomenon like the Koenigsegg hypercar that would go on to bear it. 

As is plain to see, this extra degree of individual control makes a camshaft-free engine much more versatile. They're also rather less complicated components than their more familiar counterparts, because the lack of camshafts also means it doesn't need any of the elements that cams rely on, such as the chain drive. Being suitably stripped down, as such, a camless engine can be smaller and lighter than an equivalent model, and it may also be more efficient because the computer-controlled settings allow it to adapt to the conditions of the road. 

This isn't to say, though, that a camless engine will always be "better" than one that utilizes camshafts. The issue with innovative, relatively new technology like this is that it rarely comes cheap, and showcasing it under the hood of the luxurious Gemera will do little to dissuade anyone of that notion.

On a related note, even if such an engine is more stripped-down and streamlined, it will also be rather less familiar for technicians to work on, which — as with any job — will make it more difficult to find those equipped to perform the work and typically increase the costs of it when you do. It's all about the infrastructure, and this is an issue that EVs continue to experience on their road to wider adoption and increased practicability. 

Koenigsegg's majestic Gemera has helped to ensure that Freevalve's engine is one of the most prominent in the camshaft-free sphere. The potential of the overriding idea, however, has ensured that it is far from the only company to have tried one. In the U.K., Camcon Automotive has developed a similarly unique powertrain concept that takes a very different approach to the camshaft and its functionality. In August 2018, New Atlas reported that the brand had developed the "world's first fully digital valves," a system that uses actuators for the purpose as Freevalve's engine does. 

This system, uniquely, dispenses with the conventional camshaft, but rather is designed so that each individual valve is controlled by a motorized camshaft equivalent. Mark Gostick, COO at Camcon, noted to New Atlas that the result of such precision control is that "we can give the engine exactly what it wants at low revs, and exactly what it wants at higher revs, and anywhere in between." Again, efficiency is the name of the game with any engine, ICE or hybrid, and therein lies the appeal.

As another example, Lotus Engineering has been working on an Active Valve Train system, applying electro-hydraulic power. In 2019, the United States' GlideValve began bringing a versatile two-to-eight-cylinder system to life that works by sealing valves from outside, and allowing their operation while bypassing the combustion chamber. Experimentation with the camless concept has been widespread, and its potential makes it clear why.

There are potential advantages to be gleaned from developing such unconventional engines, and these advantages extend beyond the arena of cars and other road vehicles. In the ocean, too, there are vehicles to be found that experimented with the concept. Wärtsilä, a company from Finland that describes itself as "a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets," developed the most formidable ICE on the planet, the Wärtsilä RT-flex96C, which boasts a ludicrous 108,920 bhp. It was first used in September 2006 to power a vast container ship, and two years later attained the Guinness World Records accolade for the Largest Marine Engine at 2,300 tonnes of weight and measuring 88 feet and 7 inches long. 

It's an absolute unit in every possible sense of the term, and yet another extraordinary detail about it is that there isn't a standard camshaft in its huge body. Instead, it puts the flexible in RT-flex by utilizing a unique setup with 14 cylinders and the power of common-rail technology. This is a diesel engine that took a step beyond the 12-cylinder capacity of the previously existing model, for increased output while enjoying the direct-injection advantages of a common-rail system. This system, boasted the press release, "gives unrivalled flexibility in the way the engines operate, resulting in smokeless operation at all operating speeds, lower fuel consumption, reduced maintenance costs and lower steady operating speeds for better manoeuvring."