Vehicle propulsion refers to the act of moving an artificial carrier of people or goods over any distance. The power plant used to drive the vehicles can vary widely. Originally, humans or animals would have provided the propulsion system, later being supplemented by wind power (e.g. sailing ship). Since the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

, mechanical propulsion has been possible, initially using steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s. More recently, most vehicles use some form of internal-combustion engine, with various energy sources to power them.

Thermal

• External combustion engine
  External combustion engine
  An external combustion engine is a heat engine where an working fluid is heated by combustion in an external source, through the engine wall or a heat exchanger. The fluid then, by expanding and acting on the mechanism of the engine, produces motion and usable work...
  
  
• Internal combustion engine
  Internal combustion engine
  The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
  
  
• Jet engine
  Jet engine
  A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
  
  
• Rocket engine
  Rocket engine
  A rocket engine, or simply "rocket", is a jet engineRocket Propulsion Elements; 7th edition- chapter 1 that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law...
  
  

Miscellaneous

• Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition
  HCCI
  Homogeneous charge compression ignition is a form of internal combustion in which well-mixed fuel and oxidizer are compressed to the point of auto-ignition...
  
  
• Liquid Nitrogen
• Gasoline Direct Injection
  Gasoline direct injection
  In internal combustion engines, gasoline direct injection , also known as petrol direct injection or direct petrol injection, is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines...
  
  
• Sled
  Sled
  A sled, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface. Most sleds are used on surfaces with low friction, such as snow or ice. In some cases,...
  
  

Fuel types

• Biodiesel
  Biodiesel
  Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
  
  
• Gasohol
• Ethanol
  E85
  E85 is an abbreviation for an ethanol fuel blend of up to 85% denatured ethanol fuel and gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. E85 is commonly used by flex-fuel vehicles in the US, Canada, and Europe. Some of the benefits of E85 over conventional gasoline powered vehicles include the potential...
  
  
• Autogas (LPG or Propane)
  Autogas
  Autogas is the common name for liquefied petroleum gas when it is used as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane....
  
  
• Fuel cell
  Fuel cell
  A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...
  
  
• Hydrogen vehicle
  Hydrogen vehicle
  A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen fueled space rockets, as well as automobiles and other transportation vehicles...
  
  
• Nuclear fuel
  Nuclear fuel
  Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...
  
  
• Alternative fuel cars
• Alternative propulsion

Electric vehicles

• Electric vehicle
  Electric vehicle
  An electric vehicle , also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion...
  
  
• Neighborhood electric vehicle
  Neighborhood electric vehicle
  A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle is a U.S. denomination for battery electric vehicles that are legally limited to roads with posted speed limits as high as depending on the particular laws of the state, usually are built to have a top speed of , and have a maximum loaded weight of 3,000 lbs...
  
  
• Hybrid vehicle
  Hybrid vehicle
  A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. The term most commonly refers to hybrid electric vehicles , which combine an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors.-Power:...
  
  
• Battery electric vehicle
  Battery electric vehicle
  A battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...
  
  
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
  Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
  A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle , plug-in hybrid vehicle , or plug-in hybrid is a hybrid vehicle which utilizes rechargeable batteries, or another energy storage device, that can be restored to full charge by connecting a plug to an external electric power source...
  
  
• Compressed air car
• Maglev
  Maglev
  Maglev is a form of rail transport using magnetic levitation.Maglev may also refer to:* Magnetic levitation, a method by which an object is suspended using magnetic fields* MagLev , a virtual machine for the Ruby programming language...