ABSTRACT
Throughout human history, transportation of people and goods has always been a critical part of society. For a very long time (until the 19th century), this was accomplished by either human-or animal-driven vehicles. The steam engine fundamentally changed the transportation system, mainly by powering boats and trains with some applications for automobiles. At the end of the 19th century, the invention of the internal combustion engine (ICE) led to a complete revolution of both personal and commercial transportation. Over the past 100 years, the ICE has dominated the automotive propulsion system. This is mainly due to the energy density of the liquid fuel and the power density of the ICE. For the first time in human history, the ICE enables the controlled extraction of chemical energy in hydrocarbon fuels into mechanical motion through cyclic exothermic chemical reactions with high power density.
