So how does this efficiency compare to gas turbines? Should gas power plants switch to this if it pans out? Or it might be good for portable generators.
Does two stroke mean it won’t need oil changes?
Does two stroke mean it won’t need oil changes?
This is not the same kind of two-stroke engine. The one you're thinking of pumps the fuel air mixture through the crankcase, which is why it cannot use the same oiling system that a typical four-stroke engine does. The oil would be diluted with fuel pretty quickly, and also carried into the combustion chamber and burned off. So adding the oil to the fuel is how you get around that, but then you're constantly burning oil.
Some of the traditional ones did not because the oil was mixed with fuel to lubricate the seals that exist between the piston (part that moves up and down) and the cylinder (which houses the piston). In most engines that we refer to in cars, the lubrication happens from the bottom in the crankcase (where you see the rod beneath the piston).