If you want to know the type of engine that has your car pay attention because we bring you the details on the types of car engines.
Petrol Engines
One of the types of engines is the gasoline engine. They are also known as Otto four-stroke engines. As its name indicates, it runs on gasoline thanks to a thermodynamic base that converts the chemical energy of the ignition, caused by the mixture of air and fuel, into mechanical energy. In this way, the car obtains the energy necessary to carry out its movements.
Diesel Engines
These motors are mainly used in means of transport that require an extra dose of power. They are engines designed to make longer journeys that experience a greater daily workload, such as industrial vehicles, cargo, machinery, and so on.
Currently in Spain there are as many vehicles with this engine as there are with a petrol engine. And they have come to surpass in number to the vehicles that work with gasoline.
Electric Motors
It seems the opposite but the truth is that electric motors are earlier than four-stroke diesel or petrol engines. And it is that they arose between 1832 and 1832 when Robert Anderson developed the first car with pure electric motor.
It was an engine that could transform electrical energy into mechanical energy without having to resort to the explosions and combustion typical of gasoline and diesel engines.
LPG and CNG engines
Vehicles that run on alternative fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas or compressed natural gas. These types of cars are gaining ground in the automotive industry. More and more companies want to make this type of vehicles powered by these fuels and these engines are on the rise.
Hybrid Motors
Hybrid motors are the biggest technological novelty on the market, since electric motors already existed at the beginning of the 20th century. In this case, conventional combustion engines are used, to which a second electric type engine is added, powered by high-voltage/traction batteries. Generally, it can operate with either of the two motors, or with both at the same time in the case of needing more power.
The forerunner was the Toyota Prius, although this technology is also used in sports models to raise vehicle performance and lower fuel consumption and emissions. Currently, in the market we find models that also allow to plug the batteries of high-voltage/traction to be recharged, called Plug-in Hybrid or plug-in hybrids.
The use is simple, for a few kilometers or at the start of the march we can use the electric motor, without wasting fuel, and for long journeys or when we need more power, the combustion engine comes into operation, operating as a conventional vehicle with its usual range of autonomy.
These models are ideal for those who usually make short journeys, which are within the electrical range of the vehicle, without the need to use the combustion engine or minimizing its use to the maximum.
Rotary Motor
This type of engine dispenses with the typical reciprocating piston-bile system. Instead, it uses a system of triangular-shaped rotors that rotate around an eccentric crankshaft within an oval chamber.
These rotors only rotate in one direction and the combustion chamber design allows all steps of the OTTO cycle to be performed at the same time.
How to choose the engine of our car?
By type of car
The more bulky and heavy your new car is, the more you’ll be interested in buying a diesel engine, as the fuel economy advantage over petrol engines grows exponentially. Thus, large minivans, saloons and large TT vehicles are of interest in 90% of cases with diesel mechanics, while in vehicles such as urban or microurban, gasoline is usually the most profitable option.
By type of route
Hybrids: They can run in electric mode for 2 km – or 50 km if pluggable; something that makes them perfect for moving around cities and stuck.
Electric: If you travel less than 120 km a day per city and have a recharging point at home or at work they are of interest. In addition, they do not pay parking meter, they can circulate by the lane bus vao…
LPG: If you can refuel them they are very interesting: the car works exactly the same as with gasoline and its cost of use is, on average, 40% lower.
CNG: They are not interesting because they are difficult to refuel: there are still very few natural gas stations in Spain.
Gasoline: Low displacement turbo engines have a consumption close to that of a diesel … If you travel less than 20,000 km a year are interesting, especially in urban, compact and average minivans.
Diesel: Choose them if you travel more than 20,000 km/year by road. Bear in mind that city journeys with cold engines can cause damage due to the accumulation of carbon deposits, and in the medium term they may be banned from entering large cities.
Budget
Before buying a car it is advisable to calculate our budget. If you are going to finance part of the amount, you must bear in mind that the banks will not grant you a credit if the monthly payment exceeds 40% of their income. It is also important to know the penalty for cancelling part of the loan -usually 1% of the amortised amount-.
Depending on the power
It depends on the type of vehicle, how heavy you travel and your driving style. A good method is to divide the weight by the power of the car. If the result is 12 kg/hp or less, the car should have enough power. For example, a Renault Mégane 1.5 dCi 110 weighs 1.205 kg. This, divided by its 110 hp, gives a result of 10.9 kg/hp.
Stop start system
The Stop & Start automatically stops the engine at stops and restarts it when the brake pedal is lifted or the clutch is depressed. In this way, the car consumes less and pollutes less. On the negative side, it should be noted that it needs a larger (and more expensive) battery and that this increases the risk of failure of some elements related to the start-up (such as the starter motor), although over time the brands are investigating how to correct them.