Is There An Anti-Diesel Lobby In The U.S.?
America. Wide open spaces. Big cars. The freedom to go where we want when we want.
Then +$3/gallon gas brought us back to reality.
Our cousins in Europa have had to deal with this reality for some time, but as Americans we somehow felt that cheap petroleum products were our God-given right. Before gasoline started approaching the $4 mark, the panic set in and hybrid and small fuel-sipping vehicles were selling and the SUVs and trucks were languishing on dealer lots.
Hybrid vehicles are a band-aid. First of all, they are designed for city dwellers. Hybrid engines enjoy greater fuel economy in urban driving than they do for highway driving. This is because the supplemental electric motors they use generally don’t engage until driving speeds fall below 20mph. That’s all well and good for stop and go city driving, but highway commuters aren’t going to enjoy the benefits provided by a hybrid motor.
Second, the batteries used in hybrid motors have a limited life span and are exceedingly expensive. Nobody can really say how long they are good for, but let’s assume they will fail shortly after the manufacturer’s warranty expires, under normal to heavy driving conditions. You’ve just finished paying off your Prius, and the batteries need replacing. Might as well total the vehicle, that Prius with 60k miles on it needs a $3000 battery.
Not to mention that you are going to look like a total dork tooling down the road in a Prius. I’m comfortable enough with my masculinity that my choice in cars doesn’t determine how much of a man I am, but maybe not comfortable enough with it that driving a Prius wouldn’t damage my self esteem.
So in all honesty, I think people that purchase conventional gasoline motor vehicles that have good fuel economy are making the smarter choice in terms of longevity and perhaps even maintenance expenses.
What other options are there? Well, I’m not esoteric enough to get into fuel cell and plug-in electrical cars, but there is an option that is very appealing to me: diesel.
Diesel engines have been around since the 1890s. Diesel engines combust fuel through compression instead of using a spark plug, so historically diesel engines have been constructed of cast iron, even after aluminum had been widely adopted for engine case castings in gasoline engines. Diesels have to endure very high cylinder compression, but they are also low revving, and have fewer moving parts than a gasoline motor. Diesel engines also have greater fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts.
Let’s list some of the advantages held by diesel engines:
- Fewer mechanical parts than gasoline engines. As with all things mechanical, the fewer the number of moving parts, the less likelihood there is that something will break. This is evidenced by the fact that diesel powered vehicles have a far greater membership in the half-million and million mile clubs. Diesel vehicles, properly maintained, tend to stay together.
- Lower RPMs than gasoline engines. Diesel motors rev low compared to gasoline motors. Diesel engines make power right off idle instead of having to generate enough revolutions to produce it. In addition to the benefit of making power and torque lower in the RPM range, motors that turn fewer revolutions wear less than motors that turn more revolutions. This, in addition to point #1, make for reliable vehicles that, properly maintained, last longer than their conventional gasoline counterparts.
- Greater fuel economy. Diesel motors average about 30% greater fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts. But diesel costs more than gasoline, right? Well, diesel has traditionally, and by traditionally I mean about as far back as I can remember, been about $.10 a gallon cheaper than gasoline. Even with the government and the oil companies gouging the trucking lines and consumers with higher diesel costs, it’s only about 20% more expensive than gasoline. Diesel fuel is 20% more and diesel engines are 30% more efficient. Do the math. You’re still coming out ahead.
- Biodiesel is greener than ethanol. For those who, rightfully, worry about what kind of planet we’re leaving to our children and grandchildren, biodiesel is a more environmentally sound alternative to petroleum fuel than ethanol is. First big problem, ethanol makes less energy than the gasoline it replaces when it combusts. This means that you may be saving $.40 a gallon buying E85 for your flexfuel vehicle, but your fuel economy went from 18 mpg to 12 mpg, wiping out the gain. Also, has anyone noticed that food prices have gone up globally? I’m not blaming the amount of corn that is going into gas tanks instead of people’s bellies, but it contributes to rising food costs.
Ethanol is a cleaner burning fuel, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 12% over petroleum fuel. Biodiesel tops that by producing 41% less greenhouse gases than petroleum diesel.
Finally, ethanol produces about 25% more energy than it costs to produce. Biodiesel produces 93% more energy than it costs to produce.
So here’s what’s been bugging me for a long time: Why don’t we have the same access to diesel vehicles in the U.S. that our European and Asian cousins do?
Most of the European and Japanese make diesel variants of their production vehicles that are not sold in the U.S.. Why is that? Is it the stricter diesel emissions standards that diesel vehicles have to meet over here?
I don’t buy that for a second. Volkswagen can get their diesels to meet American emissions standards, for that matter so can the big three American makers, who offer diesel versions of their heavy duty pickup trucks. You’re telling me that these and the other manufacturers are incapable of getting their diesel vehicles to run clean enough to be sold in the U.S.? Bull^%$.
For that matter, why doesn’t Volkswagen even have their diesel engine as an option on their U.S. website when you build a vehicle? It hasn’t always been that way, but it has been ever since the current fuel crisis. I don’t think it’s because VW isn’t selling their TDI vehicles. You have to special order one because they can’t produce enough to meet demand.
VW and Audi produce their whole lineup with a diesel engine option in Europe. Why not here?
Is someone telling someone else that Americans don’t want diesel? Just who is it that is trying to ram hybrid technology down our throats? Who is it that is trying to keep diesel vehicles off American roads?
I don’t buy all this. Something stinks, and I feel like I am being denied a choice that would provide me with a more reliable, more economical, greener vehicle. I made the mistake two vehicles ago of not buying a Jetta TDI. One vehicle ago I made the mistake of buying a big, gas guzzling SUV instead of the Passat TDI I test drove. My next vehicle is going to be a diesel. I would just like some choices, and in America we aren’t being provided the opportunity to make that choice.
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Comment by Michael Lankton on 11 November 2008:
Stewart:
Remember that I am speaking from the perspective of someone who commutes 104 miles a day. Commuting is not an uncommon situation in the States, and I stand by diesel for the commuter. For the urban dweller, yes, hybrids do make sense.
Comment by Stewart on 10 November 2008:
I have to disagree with the thrust of this article, that diesels are better than hybrids. I have a diesel (Jeep Liberty 2005) and get good milage. Much better than the rated milage, for that matter, because I drive it right and not like a gas vehicle. However, I mostly drive on the Interstates. Milage drops way down in stop and go urban driving, where hybrids excel. The real answer is the hybrid diesel, several models should be coming out in the next few years. They have all the advantages of diesel plus the ability to recapture brake energy and handle stop and go traffic. I must agree though that it is strange that Europe, which would be better for hybrids, went with diesel, and US is going for hybrids, which would do better with diesels. But really, they will all be plug-in hybrid diesels soon.