Vic,
Yes, traverse mounted engines require electric fans, but many European cars with inline 4 cylinders and even V4's (yes them made, sold and raced them in Europe) and nearly all used electric fans.
The load from an engine driven fan was a major issue with all small 4 cylinder engines. That's why they never caught on in the US with conventional inline 6 cylinders and V8's. Plenty of power and cheap gas.
Now that everyone is trying to squeeze more and more miles out of every drop of gasoline, the Electric fan can do that, especially with highway mileage. At highway speed the fan is not needed and the electric fan has no parasitic drag. The engine powered fan is not need at highway speeds, but the parasitic drag does require some engine power at all speeds.
The hydaulic/electric clutch fans are much better than the old thermal sensor fans, but there is still some drag.
The other factor that I like about electric fans is that they operate at maximum efficiency when the cooling is needed the most, at low speed or when the engine is idling. The engine driven fan operates at it's least efficiency when its needed the most...to compensate, the fan must be bigger and move more air at less RPMs, which requires more engine power and more gas....That's why thermal controls are used on all fans...to save gas and HP. Years ago, fans were just pulley operated and they never wore out and gas was dirt cheap :grin:
...Rich