Future Internal Combustion Engines

Dear Colleagues, 

Road mobility is the engine of economic development and one of the fundamental aspects of social cohesion because it allows everyone the freedom of movement, along with the advantages inherent to it: easy access to various jobs, public services, vacations, etc.

Even though it still represents the most widespread energy source in the field of road mobility, the internal combustion (IC) engine faces environmental issues.

Therefore, now more than ever, the need to strike a balance between a natural increase in road mobility and environmental protection is obvious. Thus, any energy source for road mobility must be impartially (i.e., freed from any scientific and/or political bias) discussed under the umbrella of the concept of sustainable road mobility.

If we define sustainability as being the feature that allows an activity (in this case, road mobility) to take place without exhausting the available resources and damaging the environment, in other words, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, then the utility of concerns for reducing automobiles’ impact on the environment is obvious.

Consequently, based on the above considerations, this Special Issue aims to gather scientific results on, and the latest findings regarding, the future of IC engines for road mobility.

Thus, papers are invited on (but not necessarily limited to) any of the generic topics below. Any other paper proposed on a topic not explicitly stated below but being of scientific interest to this Special Issue will be taken into consideration.

Finally, as editor of this special issue coming from academia, I also hope that with these papers we will succeed in clearly and impartially tell to all our good students and young engineers why embracing a research career in IC engine is still worthwhile. 

Prof. Adrian Clenci
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vehicles is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• zero-impact emission IC engines: clean engine technologies
• efficiency of IC engine and CO₂ reduction
• IC engines in the context of hybridization/electrification: stakes, challenges, and results
• alternative and renewable fuels (H2, CNG, LNG, LPG, biofuels, synthetic fuels)
• real driving emissions (RDEs)
• impact of future regulations on the development of future IC engines
• IC engine-based drivetrain technologies: environmental impact assessment via total life cycle analysis
• progress in materials and the manufacturing of IC engines