re: NYT: The Little Engine That Could (Small Block V8 tribute)

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There are massive torque benefits to electric motors, plus the ability to store energy when slowing down

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Nobody's disputing that, but with the current energy delivery methods. They're not practical or affordable.

When they develop a fuel cell that doesn't require recharging, it may be the end of the combustion engine, but they're not there yet and won't be for a while.

The smallblock chevy engine is quintessential. It replaced the flathead ford as the go to hotrodder's powerplant. It will have a place in the history of automobilia forever. They have been shoehorned into anything that rolls, floats, flies, etc.

The newer injected & computerized bowtie mills are still considered chevy smallblocks. And if you didn't know, the smallblock chevy wore fuel injection 30+ years before fuel injection was a thing.

The forged bottom end 283's mated to muncie 4 speeds and 8000 rpm clutch dump wheelie launches on the quarter mile. The camel hump headed 327. The off road cammed DZ302. The 400 smallblock, the "high nickel" 4 bolt main 350, the 383 stroker.

Computers are cool and everything, but I'd rather tune my engine with a tach, a vacuum gauge, a timing light, a screwdriver & wrench, and some itty bitty weights and springs. That's not to say there is anything wrong with a boosted "LS", just my taste.

And yes, mustangs are faster when they're built ford tough with all chevy stuff.

I was always a fan of the 429Boss. Great heads on a newer designed block over the older fe engines.

I laugh at all the people that call out others for out LS engines in ford cars. The LS has more in common with the original engine that came out then any 4.6, 5.3, or coyote engine.

quote:

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Nobody's disputing that, but with the current energy delivery methods. They're not practical or affordable.

When they develop a fuel cell that doesn't require recharging, it may be the end of the combustion engine, but they're not there yet and won't be for a while.

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Which is why my entire post was about hybrids, not pure EV’s. With a hybrid you don’t need nearly as much battery capacity and you don’t need the charging/electrical distribution infrastructure. Again, you get the performance of an electric vehicle without nearly the headache.

As an added bonus, you have better fuel economy and lower emissions - since the combustion engine is just charging the battery, it can run at a relatively constant load/speed. That means a smaller engine designed to run close to peak efficiency at all times.

Hence the disadvantage for long distance towing: a hybrid pickup truck manufacturer would need to decide how to size the combustion engine. If you size it for normal driving, you run into range issues when towing. But if you size it for towing, you lose fuel efficiency during normal driving. Even this can probably be overcome with today’s “active fuel economy” systems, though.

Again, I really do think there will be a huge increase in the number of hybrid vehicles on the road in the not-so-distant future. There are just too many infrastructure issues to overcome before pure-EV’s can become the norm, despite the economies of scale you get with centralized power generation.

Since there is a performance advantage over conventional vehicles, while maintaining the convenience of refueling at a gas station, I think this will be a win for consumers.