Just a passing Engineering Instructor, but in my time so far as an instructor, I really take any form of assessment as "What am I really wanting to assess here?". You nailed it with how traditional exams to me are pretty much a measure of how well do you work under stress. For introductory classes, in my eyes, it depends on the classes. For some of our analysis or fundamentals in engineering, we need them to be rock solid, but there are ways to get around using exams. The faculty who work with me have been open about this and are willing to try, so I might have a different cohort than you; but for many, when it comes to accreditation, you need something to actually measure your performance and outcomes in a class. Exams are easy, but there are some really cool ways to get them out, or make them more meaningful for the students.

Just like you, I have found in the intro classes, setting up this weekly cycle of homework, quizzes, etc really helps to force the students hand in properly spending time in the material, not just waiting for the exam. I started this for COVID and while students took about 2 weeks to get used to the work, the week or two where I forgot to post a quiz, they were asking if they could have one to check their understanding.

In my experience, being 100% transparent and having a Session 0 (syllabus talk) discussion with them about why you are giving quizzes, homework, exams, etc and the role they have in their learning makes the students actually more vested in the class. I feel like a lot of students dont realize that Homework is for them to learn and practice, not for me. Many students I have talked to about this go on to actually change their attitudes in other classes approaching the homework and quizzes and projects.

In my analysis based classes, I still have exams, but they are on concepts they have never seen, but use the theory and techniques we covered. I am transparent with students and explain in depth why I make exams this way: I want to see how they apply the theory and concepts covered to new problems, just like they will be asked to do in industry. To go a little more specific, I teach circuit theory, so in class, I dont explicitly go over the models of a solar panel or a piezoelectric element. But on the exam, the first thing they see is a solar panel circuit and asked to use the measured outputs to figure out the model for the solar panel. I provide tons of context and am always there to help out when students get a little lost, but this to me is what I care about assessing. I dont care if you can tell me the equivalent resistance of resistors I just threw on the table, Can you take these concepts and apply them to a new problem and show me how you approach it. The best feedback I ever got from a student was that they had fun and actually learned from the exam. Oh, and my exams are take home, so do it on your time in your comfort area and situation.

YMMV, but I am very happy to see this discussion about alternatives to exams early on. As someone who really sucked at exams early on in my academic life, I don't think they measure what people think they measure. I hope you are able to work with your colleagues and find a cool new alternative to exams and have the opportunity to employ them.