Why isn't there a car with steam engine?

Answer 1

In the early days of Cars, there were several popular steam cars, such as the Stanley Steamer which could go at a fair speed. The problem is-You need a boiler to heat the water to make the steam. You need a fuel (coal, wood, oil) to heat the boiler. So you need a fuel tank a water tank and a furnace. Very inefficient, it would require a lot of space and weight to get everything in. And of course if you needed your car say first thing in the morning, you would have to have the furnace on all night, burning fuel as you simply cannot light the boiler at 9 am and take off. You need to wait a few hours to get steam up. A modern petrol or diesel engine is very efficient these days.. will start instantly.. and is fairly economical. There is also the safety aspect of a steam car, with a boiler under high pressure.. in the early days several boilers exploded scalding everybody around.. so you see why steam cars are not an option.

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A couple of points there need clarifying.

The steam-car such as the Stanley ran on paraffin (kerosene) not solid fuels; in a specially-designed, very efficient boiler; and it did not need hours to raise steam even from cold. I am not sure what the Stanley's typical steam-raising time is, but it is certainly not all night! However, it is true that the "instant" availability of the internal-combustion engine made it displace the steam-car.

Boiler explosions for the most part were due to neglect of corrosion, or corrosion not seen; but modern boilers and their inspection routines ensure they are very safe.