I wonder how a charcoal truck engine works?
My guess is that they burn the charcoal in a deliberately inefficient was to produce a lot of carbon monoxide, which is then piped into an ordinary internal combustion engine and burned in that engine. CO is combustible because it lacks the extra oxygen atom of CO2.
Charcoal powered taxicabs were still around in Japan as late as 1955.
"I wonder how a charcoal truck engine works?"
Me too, never heard of one before.
From wikipedia on carbon monoxide:
During World War Two, carbon monoxide was used to keep motor vehicles running in parts of the world where gasoline was scarce. External charcoal or wood burners were fitted, and the carbon monoxide produced by gasification was piped to the carburetor. The CO in this case is known as "producer gas".