Company co-founders Dr. Oded Tour and his father Hugo Tour, former head of the IAF’s (Israeli Air Force’s) Mechanical Labs, had a keen insight about internal combustion engines (ICEs): knowing that ICEs lose about a third of their energy to cooling, and another third to exhaust, the father and son duo decided to “split” the conventional engine cycle into two distinct “hot and cold” halves. In true entrepreneurial fashion, their first effort essentially “siamesed together” two lawnmower engines. One half handled the cold process (intake and compression) while the other half handled the hot process (combustion and exhaust). And so, Tour Engine’s split-cycle was born