Powertrain Integration (PI) announced its 8.0L V8 LPI propane autogas engine has been named PIthon.

Powertrain Integration president Robert Pachla explained the meaning of the PIthon engine name: "Pythons are strong, powerful snakes that constrict their prey; PIthon squeezes every bit of power, every penny of savings out of operators' precious fuel and maintenance dollars."

The result of over four years of rigorous development and testing to OEM standards, PIthon is designed to fill a huge gap for big block engines in the medium-duty on-highway market. With propane autogas costing much less per gallon than diesel or gasoline, PIthon buyers are rewarded with tremendous cost savings for fuel. Powerful, smooth, quiet, clean and economical, PIthon-equipped vehicle weights average approximately 500 pounds less than comparable diesel chassis, which enables users to increase their payload by an equivalent amount or possibly save more fuel.

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) is the first OE truck builder to adopt the PIthon propane autogas engine for production. Thomas Built Bus has simultaneously embraced the PIthon 8.0L LPI as an option for its Saf-T-Liner C2 Propane bus, bringing choice back to the propane autogas Class C school bus market.