Sources of power for motor vehicles

Although the internal-combustion engine is by far the best and most efficient way of powering vehicles, both steam engines and electric motors have been used although the steam engine is an external-combustion engine and therefore requires a huge boiler in order to produce steam along with the actual engine. Also, the steam engine is rather bulky and comparatively inefficient due to considerable heat losses from both the engine and boiler, not also to mention that this type of engine continues to consume fuel quite for quite some time after it has been stopped in order to maintain steam pressure, whereas, the internal-combustion engine only uses fuel when running.

Electric motors are increasingly being used to insist the internal-combustion engine such as in hybrid applications although we are also seeing the increase in cars that are ran solely by electricity. However, this has actually been around for quite some time although only in common use for the last 15 years or so as technology has improved and associated components have became considerably lighter and less bulky.

Other drawbacks of electric cars are that they have a limited operating range and therefore require fairly regular recharging, hence the continual increase in "plug-in points" for these vehicles and also the fact that they are limited on speed

A drawback of the internal-combustion engine is that it can take considerable time for it to run at its peak temperature and hence performance whereas the external-combustion engine is still emitting a small amount of steam in order to relieve pressure in the boiler and by opening of a small valve, it will be able to work straight away as like an electric motor can simply just be switched on and used.