What Are Engines For?

This is going to sound like a really obvious sort of question, but it needs to be asked nonetheless: what is an engine for?

It’s primarily there for the purpose of making your car go.

The engine that is used by most automobiles is an internal combustion engine. It takes the fuel - the gasoline - combusts it, and uses the power of that explosion to propel your car forward.

The primary use of the engine is as a power source for the rest of the vehicle. We’re not talking about electrical power for your car, obviously - that would be your battery, which is a totally separate and much less expensive thing to worry about.

Internal combustion engines are favored because they are considered to have a high power-to-weight ratio. Your car weighs upwards of 1000 pounds in most cases, and your engine is a part of that. It has to generate enough power despite this weight to propel your car forward.

To generate this power, it’s currently necessary to use fossil fuels as they possess a high energy density. As advances continue, however, it is not unlikely that we will see changes in which engines are employed by vehicles.