A car can exert more or less torque depending on the engine type. To sum up, diesel engines tend to feature more torque than gasoline engines, meaning they are better suited for towing and climbing.
Torque in a Diesel Engine: Diesel engines tend to produce a higher amount of torque than gasoline engines as they compress more air. A diesel engine purely depends on the heat of the air to ignite the fuel as opposed to using a spark plug. So, what does this have to do with torque? Well, the higher compression ratios, the greater efficiency of an engine that is directly connected to torque. That means the diesel engine has more torque due to its higher compression ratios.
Torque in a Gasoline Engine: In a gasoline engine, a spark plug is used to combust the fuel. The piston within a cylinder moves down a significant amount before a complete ignition happens. In other words, the piston has already gone down from the top when the fuel just begins to ignite. As a result, the gasoline engine goes slower, thus decreasing torque.
Torque in an Electric Vehicle: Electric cars use an electric motor to power the vehicle. While an internal combustion engine needs to have multiple gears to achieve a top speed, an electric motor can arrive at peak torque instantaneously. Furthermore, the electric vehicle has a reducer, a kind of transmission, to transmit the motor's power to the wheel effectively. Since the motor has significantly high torque, the reducer is needed to decrease the rpm to a proper level depending on the driving conditions. So, electric vehicles can save power from the reduced rpm, creating higher torque as a result.
Torque in a Hybrid Engine: A hybrid engine is divided into two types: a gasoline engine paired with an electric motor or a diesel engine paired with an electric motor. In a gasoline hybrid, a motor can deliver a high torque similar to an EV at lower speeds, thus offering the same benefits in terms of quick torque, resulting in increased fuel efficiency and better performance. Conversely, in the case of a diesel hybrid, it is hard to maximize the abilities of a motor as the diesel engine itself produces a high amount of torque.