World's number 1 most powerful piston engine has a very large purpose to serve

Have you ever wondered what the world’s most powerful piston engine looks like?

Well, here it is – and it’s like comparing a vehicle engine to a planet.

It weighs over 2,300 tonnes, stands 44ft tall and produces six figures of horsepower.

This is the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C, and it is the world’s most powerful piston engine.

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This is the world’s most powerful piston engine

The world’s most powerful piston engine comes with some mind-boggling numbers.

This Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C is manufactured by Finnish company Wärtsilä, and it produces 108,920 horsepower – an absolutely staggering number.

If you think that’s crazy, then wait until you hear the torque figure for this engine.

Because the world’s largest piston engine produces over 5,000,000lb-ft of torque.

As you might have worked out, such a monstrous powerplant eats through fuel.

Members of Greenpeace should probably look away for this statline.

Because the world’s largest piston engine eats through nearly 1,700 gallons of fuel per hour.

In fairness, this engine displaces nearly 25,000 liters of water.

It also weighs more than a large majority of boats and ships themselves.

What needs such a big engine?

So, what exactly does the world’s most powerful piston engine actually power?

It turns out that the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C is the beating heart of a cargo ship.

This mammoth, inline-14 engine has been in service on the high seas for over 19 years.

The engine sits inside the Danish container ship Emma Maersk.

It is 1,300 feet long and 183 feet wide – and it dwarfs the size of America’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.

In fact, it’s so big that it can carry more than 11,000 cargo containers.

When it was launched in 2006, it immediately became the largest container ship ever built.

Thanks to its monstrous piston engine, it can cruise the seas at speeds of 30mph.