Once Power Chips™ have demonstrated that they are capable of reliably converting heat to electricity, the logical next step will be to move to higher temperature Power Chips and design a car which has no engine whatsoever.

Instead, Power Chips will combust fuel in a small chamber (a chamber 12" on a side would be sufficient to provide 75 kw of power). The combustion temperature would be higher than that of today’s engines, because Power Chips do not have to move under load, as pistons do. Higher temperature combustion will extract more energy from the same amount of fuel.

The elegance of this approach is evident. There are no significant moving parts until the motor/axle in the wheel. Reliability should be extremely high, as will be fuel efficiency. And the elimination of a mechanical drivetrain means that the weight and size of the car can be reduced, while volume available to passengers can be increased. The engine and drivetrain become invisible.