If there are steam powered locomotives, why aren't there steam powered cars?

Question

Doesn't it make sense? Why, if they can make something that weighs MUCH more than a car run on steam, why can't they make a car that runs on steam?

Unless steam powered locomotives don't really run on steam?

This seems logical, right?

Answer 1

The size of the combustion chamber required to build the pressurized steam for the propulsion and the size of the fuel storage tank to create the steam would be larger than the car.

Also, the NOx exhausted from the waste gas would cause far more harm to the atmosphere than what a combustion gas engine does.

Answer 2

The Stanley (nicknamed Stanley Steamer) was a steam-powered automobile produced by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company. In 1906, the Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 127.7 mph (205.5 km/h) at the Daytona Beach Road Course, driven by Fred Marriott, picking up the Dewar Trophy in the process. This is still officially recognized as the land speed record for a steam car. It is also notable as being the marque in which William McKinley became the first President to ride in an automobile. The Steamer enjoyed a vogue in the early 1900s before eventually being overtaken technologically by the internal combustion engine.

Answer 3

Power to weight ratio...Also can you imagine how pain in the butt to maintain the steam of your car while driving?, and how about seatbelt mandatory laws??? I mean you  have to sit still to drive now a days!!!

Answer 4

Let’s see there was the Stanley,  White, Locomobile, Doble, Paxton, and many, many more.

The electric started is what led to the death of both the steam, and electric car. Both of them gave the internal combustion engine a run for the money. Before the death of steam, a steam car could be up and running faster then the internal combustion engine. The time was down to less the 40 seconds, but you needed more skill to run a steamer, and you needed to replace the tubes every few years. Also with mass production of the internal combustion engine it was far easier to find someone to work on them then a steam boiler. With a little knowledge you could and many people did all the work on the internal combustion engine themselves, the danger of a mistake was small. But a mistake on a boiler could not only kill you but many other people besides.

There have been attempts to bring back the steam car, so far they have failed.

Hoped it helped

EDIT

There's a lot of bad information in some of the answers, like the need for water. By the end of steam powered cars, you could go 1,500 miles (on 24 gallons of water) before you needed water. Also most of controls for maintaining steam pressure etc, wasn't anymore complex then starting an internal combustion engine of the day and they didn’t have a clutch or transmission to worry about. Their acceleration was better then most cars of the day, for example the model B Doble could go from 0 to 60 in fifteen seconds while the model T took 40 seconds to reach it’s top speed of 40 – 50 MPH a Cord 812 had a 0 to 60 time of 13.5 with a super-charger.

Here’s a video about the Doble steam car.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/vide...

Answer 5

Steam is actually pretty inefficient.  

Gas turbines for pure performance and raw horse power are much better.

Overall the internal combustion engine works the best.  You think there is some really big conspiracy that puts steam down like the big oil companies do for the 100mpg car...?  You must be drinking some 'great' Kool-aid.

So, no, it doesn't make sense.

Answer 6

because the amount of steam it would take to power a car on steam would be totally unefficient, and would take  much longer to start the car because the water would have to heat up end everything.

Answer 7

There were steam powered cars like the Stanley Steamer - a cute automobile but not a GREAT steam car like the Doble . Steam has a few problems all of which can be solved today thanks to the Doble. But the auto industry is not going to retool to build steam cars ; oil companies don't want a car that burns clean and uses cheep fuel - the need for gas would drop and the value of oil stock would drop; oil investors would not like that! The fat cats decide what we drive - NOT what works. Look up " the Steam auto club of America" ; a case for steam - Jay Leno ( he owns a Doble Steam Car) . Good question.

Answer 8

Besides what the other answerer posted, it would be pretty hard to keep the fire burning while you're driving.  You'd need an engineer to ride around with you all the time.

Plus, you'd either have to cut down a bunch of trees for the wood, or keep a giant pile of coal in your garage.

Answer 9

There WERE steam powered cars 100 years ago. But they ran out of water too fast, and tended to blow up.

And while steam does provide power to the cylinders, you still need a source to heat the water INTO steam.

Answer 10

inefficiency and cost I'd say.

Answer 11

there were several steam cars between 1900 & 1931, the doble was the best it would go from 0 to 75 in 10 seconds(to see one click on J Lenos garage) but it was expensive.

the problem with steam cars is they burn gas or oil just like any other car & get worse gas milage.

BTW they havent built any steam locomotives in the U.S. in more than 50 years. all our trains use diesel engines just like the trucks, there were also several companys making electric cars 100 years ago but they had limited milage between charges just like the ones now.

Answer 12

Steam engines require heavy laden materials to hold steam under pressure. You have to also have some fuel source to heat the water to develop the steam.  If you remember your history locomotives had water towers at various locations on their routes. They also carried a wood car behind them to supply fuel for heating the locomotive boilers up. Water also creates a corrosive factor over time period. So the answer is you'll always need some sort of fuel to heat the water.

Answer 13

Yes I was in Japan during the Korean war. They had built some small boilers to fit in the back of the car.  They burnt coal. The steam was run to the motor and the timing of the valves was changed and every thing stayed pretty much the same. It was not a speed daemon ,but many Taxi's had been converted.

Answer 14

Look up Stanley Steamer.

They tried that, it worked, sorta.

Also the first automotive thing , that worked. was the Cugnot Steamer. 1700s france.

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/19/the-v...

http://www.hybrid-vehicle.org/hybrid-veh...

They still burn Fossil Fuels, that is the stupid part that we have to extract ourselves from.

Fossil Fuels are NOT unlimited, matter of fact, they are dwindling exponentially now.