C&D: Have We Reached Peak Engine?

[12,000 RPM]

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/have-we-reached-peak-engine-column

But even the best carburetor couldn't deliver the change society was demanding from the automobile, and the industry eventually switched to injection en masse. Briefly, the top of the engine became a simpler place as carbs gave way to fuel rails. However, massive triumphal success cutting the local scourges of smog and soot has only given way to a new societal urgency to attack the global scourge of carbon dioxide. The only way to reduce CO2 is to burn less fuel, so the engine is being pushed to increasingly tortured lengths to find efficiency. The question is, are we now reaching peak engine?

I mostly agree with this sentiment. The Prius powertrain, hybrid gear and all, is way simpler and cleaner than the typical ubiquitous 2.0T. OK, Prius gas motor has dual VVT & intake VVL, but modern high tech gas only engines have those as well as direct injection, turbocharging, and as this editorial states, stuff like electronically controlled oil and water pumps.... i.e. shit VWAG/BMW/etc could barely make reliable in its simplest form, now with more capacity for failure.

Compare that to a simple VVT/VVL port injected gas engine with a mild hybrid setup... seems a lot more feasible. And the downsides are small. The battery pack on a Prius only weighs about 70lbs. Even if you triple that for the motor/cabling/other accessories, you get a lot of those weight savings back from being able to run a smaller, simpler gas engine. From a performance standpoint, batteries can be more ideally located, and a hybrid + NA engine will sound better and have sharper response than a turbo engine. I am looking forward to hybrid 911s and the like... I am a little surprised that wasn't the motor upgrade for the 991.2. But we will see. It looks like hybrid tech is an inevitable conclusion.

[SJ_GTI]

Interesting article and thought exercise. I think he is probably right. KISS seems like a good concept and electric motors are definitely simpler than IC engines nowadays. Battery management seems pretty complex though...so who knows.

[12,000 RPM]

I'm feeling like battery management is still a lot easier than ultra lean combustion management. Plus there are so many other industries that do battery management, whereas building an engine to pass emissions is crazy specialized.