Let's be honest, I know Diesel fuels has its downsides, but it doesn't justify most of the anti-Diesel rants that I usually see, not just here.
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Originally Posted by Honda100
The U.S. has extremely strict emissions regulations on diesel vehicles for consumers to the point where it's ridiculously complicated to have a diesel as an American consumer. The relatively unregulated diesels are the semi trucks, locomotives, and farm vehicles, not us SUV owners.
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And even the trucking industry in the U.S. has been turning to Natural Gas in order to keep costs competitive while still facing stricter regulations. Regarding farm vehicles and agricultural machinery, since there are not too many incentives for alternative fuels that are economically-viable in a real-world scenario, Diesel engines are still the best option. I'd only see a viable replacement for Diesel fuel and biodiesel in the agriculture if there were subsidies for bio-methane.
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Australia maybe, but in the U.S. it's the opposite case. It's almost impossible to get most vehicles in diesel form (RRs included) and hence, we're extremely oil hungry and massive consumers of petrol. Even simple things like my Tacoma get 13 mpg in heavy New York traffic (windows up by the way because petrol exhaust is damn toxic too).
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Not just Diesels have a higher efficiency, they're also still the most reliable platform for experiences with some renewable fuels such as biodiesel, pure vegetable oils, and even ethanol in some cases. Also, these liquid fuels can also be combined with some gaseous fuel such as LPG, CNG/LNG, bio-methane, and even Hydrogen, and this does decrease the soot issue which they have always been blamed for. And while it might sound smarter to just use gaseous fuels alone in a spark-ignited engine, the limited refuelling infrastructure is what makes them still not the most reliable option for many commercial operators.