What does make a car engine technically a six pack?

Would this be possible: MODERN STEAM CAR IDEA?

• READ>>> If you revisited the Steam Engine powered car idea, But went in and made improvements to the Engine to give it much MUCH more efficiency and power. and even possibly where at the end of a stroke it would recycle some of the steam back into water to be used again (Not talking about perpetual motion! talking about reusing SOME) And heating the boiler with Electricity and friction or both... Using a small battery pack specifically use for the boiler and recharged it with a power generator/alternator running off of the Engine or wheels. Would that be possible? to create a clean pollution free Steam car I do not want to hear "Oh the power it takes to turn the alternator or generator would make it so inefficient" Car engines turn them to put out enough power to keep the Radio blaring, The lights on, The Engine running, Hell on these new cars it keeps the breaks, Power steering, Computer, Seats, Lights, everything you can think of going. And if you redesigned the steam engine to be more lighter and efficient it would be perfectly capable. Heck you could get a ancient steam engine from way back and do it. Much like a starter motor using the battery to power itself long enough to get the car running, Then the car runs off the alternator which recharges the battery

• Answer:

  First, this is not an astronomy question. Second, you have a very vague idea about how steam engines work. You have to burn fuel, which then heats a boiler, where water boils to produce hot steam at high pressure. Steam then expands and cools in a cylinder while moving a piston. All of this requires that you burn some fuel to produce heat. If a steam engine is producing electricity and then using it to heat the steam, then you got a perpetuum mobile. Third, steam engines are quite simple and versatile machines. They can be made to run on any fuel, any source of heat. Stirling engine (steam engine where steam is replaced by gas or refrigerant) can even run on solar heat. However, they are also quite bulky compared to internal combustion engines. There is no way around it. Steam engine is similar to ICE, but it also needs a boiler, condenser, water storage tank and all the paraphernalia around these. Fourth, piston steam engines are almost dead. In just about every application pistons have been replaced by turbines. These are lot more efficient and last longer. They are also more complicated, more expensive, more delicate, and a lot noisier.