Understanding the types of vehicle engines available in 2025
You may recall that a few weeks back, I penned (OK, typed) an article about selecting the right vehicle for tourism purposes. In that article, I mentioned the fact that there are several types of engines available. Your vehicles fuel efficiency is crucial in an era of growing fuel costs and environmental concerns. A fuel-efficient one cuts your carbon impact and saves you money at the pump. Consider MPG, hybrid or electric alternatives, and how your driving habits fit with its economy.
Today’s article is where I explain them in as simple a fashion as possible. As an automotive writer/test driver and someone with a fair degree of automotive technical knowledge, I could easily write 10,000 words on the subject – but I’ve stuck to around 10% of that. So sit back, relax with a beverage of choice and read through to understand the various types of automobile powertrains available today – because we’ve got quite a bit of freedom of choice at hand.
Regular Petrol (Gasoline)
This is your typical internal combustion engine that runs on petrol (or gasoline, if you’re from the USA). The basic way it works is where petrol is mixed with air and combusted via a spark plug. Some petrol engines utilize a turbocharger or supercharger to force air into the intake manifold for more power. Others are naturally aspirated, where air is sucked in by the engine’s operation. Turbo/supercharged engines used to be the preserve of high-performance powertrains; now you can find them in regular commuter vehicles too. Today’s petrol engines are highly refined, technologically advanced, and computer controlled. Gone are the days of carburettor tuning, for example.
Petrol engines are relatively simple in operation, easy to maintain, and cheaper to repair when compared with other powertrain types. They do not have expensive hybrid batteries, for example. But, petrol engines can also be less fuel-efficient than other types of powertrain. Furthermore, turbocharged or supercharged engines may need higher octane fuels (you can’t pump 92 for example), and more frequent oil changes.
Regular Diesel
Diesel engines use the principle of compression ignition. Here, there’s no spark plug, but there may be a glow plug or engine block heater to aid starting in cold conditions. The premise of the diesel engine is that it uses a much higher compression ratio than a petrol engine (plus, of course, a different hydrocarbon fuel, called diesel). Once the charge of diesel and air has been injected into the cylinder, the valves close and the piston compresses the mixture to a great degree. If you’ve been paying attention in school, you might recall that gases get hotter when compressed. So, the mixture increases in temperature until it combusts. Diesel engines may be turbocharged as well, for improved performance.
Diesel engines don’t rev as high as petrol engines, but they provide more torque at lower RPM ranges and in broader bands. This is why you find them in many commercial and heavy vehicles. Furthermore, diesel engines offer better fuel economy than a comparable petrol engine. This was a major selling point of diesel vehicles in the past, since diesel was cheaper than petrol. Now that this isn’t the case, it remains to be seen whether the increased fuel economy actually results in savings in your wallet.
Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid
Hybrids combine an electric motor and a high-voltage hybrid battery pack with a regular internal combustion engine. The majority of hybrids use a petrol engine, but diesel hybrids have been built as well. Broadly speaking, there are two types of hybrids. Mild hybrids use their engines for propulsion, with the electric motor providing a boost of torque when required. Typically, the hybrid system can’t propel the vehicle on electric power alone and uses a much smaller battery pack.
Full hybrids come in series and parallel forms. They use one or more electric motors, as well as an internal combustion engine. Here, the vehicle may be solely propelled by the electric motor under certain conditions such as cruising at a steady speed, mild acceleration, or driving in slow traffic. Here, the internal combustion engine may shut down to conserve fuel.
Regular hybrids (mild or full) charge their hybrid battery packs via regenerative braking (which is energy that is recovered when you back off the throttle or use the brakes), as well as from their engines. There will be circumstances when the engine is providing more power than the vehicle needs to maintain a steady speed. Here, the extra energy is redirected into the battery.
Plug-in hybrids tend to be full hybrids. They allow you to plug the vehicle into a regular wall socket, or even a fast EV charger, and top up the battery. For this reason, plug-in hybrids tend to have a longer electric-only range, with some models offering up to 32 kilometres (20 miles) of range before the engine must switch on. Of course, this depends on driving style – floor the throttle for maximum performance and the engine will kick in to provide it even if you’ve got enough battery charge.
Hybrids offer great fuel economy and decent acceleration, since the motors can take over any deficits from the engine. But they are more complex to maintain and you’ve got to keep an eye on their hybrid battery packs – the typical pack deteriorates after eight to ten years.
Electric (EV)
EVs use one or more electric motors and a large battery pack to provide mobility. There’s no internal combustion engine on board (unless it’s a range extender, which will have a tiny engine acting purely as a generator). EVs offer nippy acceleration because of the characteristics of electric motors, which provide the greatest twisting effort from a standstill. That’s why even tiny city car EVs have a pretty smart get-up-and-go factor. More powerful EVs can really pin you in your seat.
However, EVs are wholly dependent on charging infrastructure. This isn’t a problem in the Western Province, or at certain luxury hotels in other provinces, but there are still a lot of gaps that need to be filled in. So this is certainly a consideration that must be made if you’re looking at an EV for tourism. That being said, there are many EVs with ranges in excess of 400 kilometres, which is a distance that’s stretching the upper echelons of many tourist drives – after all, who’d want to sit for eight hours in a car? On that token, if you could arrange some fast charging at your overnight stops, you’d be covered.
In the dynamic world of tourism and travel, choosing the right vehicle for your tourist business is paramount. The vehicle you select can significantly influence your customers’ comfort, safety, and overall experience, ultimately shaping your business’s reputation and success. From airport transfers to scenic tours and wilderness adventures, choosing the best car for your tourist business is multifaceted, blending practicality, aesthetics, and customer-centricity.
Ashraaq Wahab- Director of Sales & Marketing and Technical Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer, Photographer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
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