Machine engine

An automobile engine is an engine that converts energy of any kind into mechanical work needed to drive a car.

The most common type of automobile engine is a piston internal combustion engine. This engine can be carburetor or injector, powered by various automotive fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum or compressed natural gas). But besides this, cars can be equipped with a Stirling engine or a Wankel rotary-piston engine, engines that use the energy of a previously spun flywheel, the energy of a high-pressure gas, steam engines, electric motors.

An internal combustion engine converts the chemical energy of a burning fuel into mechanical work. Known types of internal combustion engines are piston, rotary-piston and gas turbine engines.

A car that uses an electric motor as an engine is called an electric car. Electric motor operation requires electrical energy, the source of which may be batteries or fuel cells.

A hybrid propulsion system combines an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, which are connected through a generator. Energy transfer to the drive wheels in a hybrid car can be done sequentially (ICE - generator - electric motor - wheel) or in parallel (ICE - transmission - wheel and ICE - generator - electric motor - wheel).