Lol, I really want to see a 150-year old EURO6 200kw diesel engine coupled with a 150-year old 9-speed automatic dual-clutch allowing me to drive on the 150-year old roads for 4 liters per 100 km at German highway speeds.
BTW, electric cars are older technology than ICE cars.
The main innovation in modern electric cars isn't just about swapping fuel with electricity, but eliminating all junk in between that wasted power only to overcome ICE inherent flaws.
More simple electronics aside, clutch, gearbox, then driveshaft are all gone, and they contributed to a huge waste of power, which burned a lot of fuel for nothing. This is so bad that where possible and economically feasible (trains and ships) they use mixed diesel-electric pairs with the diesel engine working as generator so that it would always run at maximum torque not being forced to start from zero rpm and not having its speed related with train and ship speed.
The electric engine is indeed older than internal combustion one, however what makes it a better option also for cars required modern development, especially in batteries and rare earth magnets which would have been unthinkable only a few decades ago.
> clutch, gearbox, then driveshaft are all gone, and they contributed to a huge waste of power which burned a lot of fuel for nothing.
Practically, they are replaced by even more "junk" in the form of literal tons of batteries weighing more than the part they replaced, the electric motor having to expend more energy to carry this extra weight around..
> what makes it a better option also for cars required modern development, especially in batteries and rare earth magnets which would have been unthinkable only a few decades ago.
Is it, though? I'd like hard facts on that. From what I can find, battery chemistry hasn't seen any breakthrough, only their cost has steadily decreased, in large parts thanks to economies of scale and an oversight for externalities mostly in the extraction and refining supply chain. Similarly, high efficiency electric motors have been a solved problem for a century. I think the whole charger infrastructure and finally getting to the end of the chicken and egg conundrum has more to do with EVs becoming a thing than some new tech having enabled it.
BTW, electric cars are older technology than ICE cars.