Ladies & Gentlemen, #HugYourEngine

You may have seen my TEDx talk “In defense of internal combustion,” that I delivered in late 2016. At the end of my talk I describe the importance of pushing multiple energy strategies forward and not falling into the trap of “us vs them”. I suggest that yes, we should continue hugging trees, but why not also start hugging engines? The internal combustion engine is, without question, the dominant energy source for transportation. It is today, it will be tomorrow, it will be next year, and there’s a good chance it will be for many years to come. Yes, burning fossil fuels in your car leads to greenhouse gases (GHGs), but so does burning fossil fuels to create electricity. The improvement in fuel efficiency, and hence the reduction in GHG’s, has improved dramatically over the years. And new engines such as Mazda’s SKYACTIV-X will continue to reduce the amount of GHG’s produced on the road.

But this is 150 year old technology right? Surely it’s time to move on and do something different, right? While the fundamental concept is the same, today’s IC engines are light years ahead of Otto’s engine. One example is exhaust particulate matter (PM). Exhaust PM has improved so much that we’re now starting to compare overall (exhaust and non-exhaust) PM between vehicles. And guess what? Overall PM has been shown to be just as high for EVs as ICEVs. But wait a second -- the media has told me that EVs are zero emissions!? And don’t even get me started on the human toxicity potential of EVs and their batteries…

The IC engine has given us the type of freedom that few other inventions can claim – freedom to travel long distances, freedom to drive our kids across town, freedom to flag an Uber at 2 AM. And yet the amount of demonization that the IC engine receives from the media is mind-boggling. When Volvo declared they would only produce hybrid or fully electric vehicles after 2019, much of the media failed to understand that a hybrid engine includes an IC engine. So the headlines read, and I’m paraphrasing, “Volvo cars to go all electric” Say what? And then you have The Economist, who has doubled down on this notion and declared the IC engine dead. Excuse me? We don’t yet have a viable alternative to the IC engine and it's already been given its death march? Insane!

And it’s not just the media. Millions of people have bought into the hype. I see it on twitter. I hear about it in casual conversations. I get asked about it at conferences. And yet every day, these same people get in their IC engine powered cars and drive to the grocery store. Entire countries are even banning IC engines! What? Banning the IC engine? As a group of British researchers recently stated this “makes good politics, but poor engineering”. And if you really dig into the details, these “bans” are usually not as dire as the media would have you believe. Because that wouldn’t be sensational – people want sensational in 140 characters or less. And before you know it, the IC engine is the devil and its combustion is the flames of hell.

I’m not against electric vehicles, or hybrid vehicles, or even fuel cells. I think all of these concepts should be explored and all of them have their place. But let’s not demonize what is currently our best option for transportation. Let’s not “ban” something now, only to impede its progress when we may need to rely on it in the future. Let’s identify the strengths and weaknesses of all of these technologies and be honest about it. Don’t pretend the latest cool thing has zero impact on the environment…because anything that gets millions of people from point A to point B on a daily basis will have an impact. Don’t vilify your engine, instead thank it for providing rescue transportation to thousands of people and for allowing you to drop your kids off at school.

Not everyone will agree with this post and that’s fine. But if you do agree, please like it, share it, and use the #HugYourEngine hashtag on your own posts. Post a picture with your hood raised and #HugYourEngine. Share an article describing one of many exciting new engine developments and #HugYourEngine. Or just write a few words about why the IC engine is alive and well and #HugYourEngine. Let's all work together to spread this message. Your engine won’t be able to thank you, but decades of combustion research will.