I was told that Steam cars were fast, clean, and efficient, and at one time it was the vehicle of choice.
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To make a thing move, I need an energy source and an energy-to-movement converter. The goal is to convert as much of my fuel energy into movement as I can. Get the most bang for my buck, literally.
Let’s use gasoline as the energy source. I can combust it, use that energy to boil water, use that steam to move a piston, use that piston to spin a flywheel geared to the wheels on the ground.
I can also just put the gasoline in the piston and burn it there. One less step, one less place to lose heat and therfore thermodynamic efficiency. I also don’t to have to lug around a large tank of water and waste energy heating up my working fluid that (and this is really important) I can’t capture to do work. Every time you stop driving, that tank will cool, and you’ll have to reheat it, costing time and energy. Might as well make the combusting fuel my working fluid, since it would heat itself up when ignited.
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