Efficiency of the IC engine

Hi folks,
IC engines lose 42% of their energy to exhaust and 28% of their energy to the cooling system. Therefore the true explanation for the poor performance of the engine would seem to lie in inefficient use of energy and loss of energy through heat transfer. The loss incurred through inefficient use of energy is easily understood, compressed fuel and air is ignited and is then used to propel the piston down the cylinder with explosive force for a distance of just a few inches after which all further energy developed by the fuel is lost and in fact becomes a liability since the piston has to reverse direction, a process which is inhibited by the pressure of trapped gases on the piston head. The reason that energy loss to heat transfer has been tolerated , and even welcomed by engineers , is a little more involved and will be referred to later on in the article. Notwithstanding the improvements made to the RI engine we have to ask ourselves, and this is the million dollar question, is this really the limit of performance of the reciprocating internal combustion engine, does this mark the end of the road for this more than 200 year old concept, some entrepreneurs seem to think not, they have come up with the idea of a concept IC engine. Thank you.