Ionic liquids (ILs) offer many possibilities for improving the properties of machines that rely on lubricants or operating liquids. The studies presented here showed that different ionic liquids are suitable to, e. g., make high pressure processes more efficient and reduce fuel consumption of combustion engines. It is shown that ionic liquids can increase the performance for all machines with lubricants or operating liquids. The only obstacle to the widespread use of ionic liquids in the machine technology is the potential corrosivity of ILs that generally prohibits the use of conventional materials.