It seems mind-boggling that the piston engine has been around since the 19th century, and while it is true that many improvements have been made since then through the ensuing years to improve its effectiveness, it still seems somewhat unfathomable that the piston engine is still the way that most gasoline vehicles are powered in this modern age.
Perhaps, this is the way that it should be, but in consideration that never has there been more knowledge to draw and to lean upon, along with more highly skilled and knowledgeable engineers that one would think that at a minimum there would be those that would have a strong interest in thinking outside the box, so as to possibly make a quantum leap in engine design, and to thereby make their mark on the world with something that somehow in some way was better than the piston engine.
To the credit of the Japanese manufacturer Mazda, they came out with their revolutionary rotary engine in 1978 for their RX-7. The rotary engine is a much simpler design than the piston engine, because it uses fewer moving parts, which thereby would seem to signify that its reliability and robustness would be superior. Yet, despite its general success in the marketplace, the rotary engine never really caught on, perhaps hurt by the fact that its fuel efficiency was inferior to that of the piston engine as well as other factors.
Still, to the credit of Mazda, they never completely abandoned the rotary engine, and thus it still exists in the present day, through specific models of the Mazda MX-30, not as a propulsion engine but rather as a generator for the vehicle’s battery, thus extending the driving range of this hybrid vehicle and making it more marketable.
This would seem to suggest that not only does the rotary engine still have merit, but that those who are in the automobile business are not stuck in their ways, which is why today’s electric vehicles have taken such a remarkable amount of market share away from the traditional piston engine by simply using an electric motor instead. That said, the infrastructure of so many Western nations is clearly built around gasoline-powered cars, which is why those in the automobile manufacturing business should continue to devote an appropriate amount of money to Research and Development, because it must be said there is still a definite need for a gasoline-powered vehicle that has a revolutionary engine design, to not just maintain relevancy but also to stay competitive.
Indeed, part of the problem with the gasoline automobile business is that there isn’t much room for new players, mainly because of the massive capital expense required to get into the business, and with many an auto company, having been around for over 100 years, it needs to be considered that those in upper management may not being paying enough attention to other ideas that would entail some degree of financial risk, and thereby being too dismissive of concepts such as the rotary engine, when further study might well be warranted.