NemyMongus t1_j6ddqf8 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 3:37 PM

Reply to comment by quantizedself in Eli5 why aren't gas only vehicles far more fuel efficient than before by Live_Strongerrr

Mercedes AMG reached 50% thermal efficiency with their Formula 1 engine about 5 years ago but your point about no “real” engine is still very valid. The F1 engine is using hybrid tech to reach that and is more expensive that many homes, let alone cars. They also are not using standard fuels or oils either. The engine reaches that thermal efficiency not while idling or going at low speeds, it does it at full throttle producing over 1000hp so, while fuel efficient in relation to other F1 engines, I wouldn’t be surprised if the semi truck used to transport the cars from track to track get better MPG.

quantizedself t1_j6dfuf7 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 3:52 PM

That's interesting, I'll have to read up on that. This limit is for purely thermal engines that run on a hot and cold heat transfer cycle. So I can imagine something hybrid would do better, but I'd be willing to bet that if we took a close enough look at that engine we'd find the thermal only part of the engine being under 50% efficient, and the rest was boosted by a different system.