EPA may fine VW

[RedDevil]

While I'm not a socialist (no way near) I must say that we should not discuss politics on this forum, for obvious reasons (the forum rules being just one of them).

You love diesel and I don't. That's clear. Let's leave it at that. Calling names / associating with blindfolds and political parties makes things worse.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

There were times I was also unfavorable to Diesel engines, a little overwhelmed about CNG, but nowadays if I had the chance I would never replace spark plugs anymore...

[RedDevil]

Gotta change 8 plugs at a time in my car - every 75.000 miles.
But I'd rather not change plugs ever more, if I could only afford that Tesla

[Fingie]

We'll see if Vw's golden throne is toppled. Here in Europe Vw is possibly facing charges too, because of the emission fiddling

[freebeard]

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr -- Agreed there is diesel and then there is bio-diesel. I would rank them this way:

• Magnetic drive (it's the future)
• Bio fuels, Vodka and hemp oil
• Petroleum based liquids—gas and diesel
• Compressed gases—propane,LNG, and especially hydrogen.

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by freebeard

there is bio-diesel. I would rank them this way:

• Magnetic drive (it's the future)
• Bio fuels, Vodka and hemp oil
• Petroleum based liquids—gas and diesel
• Compressed gases—propane,LNG, and especially hydrogen.

Why do you list gaseous fuels last? Australia has so much gas (yes really) that we just burn it off as a waste product. We export is to China for $1 a ton.

Diesel is this close to being 'banned' in all passenger vehicles in the EU and countries that use the EU ratings. With EU6 complexities like Urea post treatment (I don't know how much it adds to a cars purchase price but it also adds about 10% to your fuel cost - as well as reliability issues - Google 'Adblue problems') are going to force diesels out of the smallest cars, and EU7 will force diesel out of bigger cars until only the vehicles that need to be diesel are left.

Let's not forget that if diesel were taxed the same a petrol in Europe, passenger car diesels would have never been developed in the first place.

[freebeard]

Why do you list gaseous fuels last?

Because it's personal opinion?

It's mostly the compressed part. A friend lost his motor home when a propane tank went off like a bottle rocket (allegedly). Uncompressed gas is cheap because it's hard to move to the point of use, isn't it. Especially hydrogen.

Of course I wasn't thinking about steam or compressed air. With very high pressure air, at least it isn't ignitable.

[LitterBug]

Originally Posted by freebeard

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr -- Agreed there is diesel and then there is bio-diesel. I would rank them this way:

• Magnetic drive (it's the future)
• Bio fuels, Vodka and hemp oil
• Petroleum based liquids—gas and diesel
• Compressed gases—propane,LNG, and especially hydrogen.

Care to explain what magnetic drive is?

Cheers!
LitterBug

[RustyLugNut]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Because it's personal opinion?

It's mostly the compressed part. A friend lost his motor home when a propane tank went off like a bottle rocket (allegedly). Uncompressed gas is cheap because it's hard to move to the point of use, isn't it. Especially hydrogen.

Of course I wasn't thinking about steam or compressed air. With very high pressure air, at least it isn't ignitable.

Compressed fuel gasses have better safety records than liquid fuels most specifically gasoline.

Gaseous fuels are easily transported to the point of use via pipeline.

Gaseous fuels can be used in transport by storing in adsorptive media like common carbon or metal hydrides. This just about mitigates most problems such as the aforementioned "hydrogen embrittlement" problem.

As a regional fuel, gaseous fuels make economic sense. Catalytic transformation to liquid fuels makes their energy use more dense and far ranging.

CNG fueling stations are becoming more common. One just opened up a couple miles from my condo. Since our HOA is not going to allow us to install an electric charging station, the idea of an all electric vehicle is out of the question. However, several outfits now perform CNG conversions for cars as well as heavy industrial applications and several manufacturers such as Honda have models outfitted to use CNG straight from the factory. At a cost of about 3 dollars US to refuel and drive all week, it is an economic advantage that is worth looking into.

And don't get me started on diesels. Diesels are two decades behind gasoline engines in emission control technology. There will come a time when both gasoline and diesel engines will be capably clean and will merge into something resembling a hybrid combustion model.

[freebeard]

LitterBug -- AKA electric. Tesla's rotating magnetic fields.

RustyLugNut -- Carefully labeled opinion ("I would rank them this way:")

I'm not dogmatic about it. A compressor in the [well-ventilated] garage to refuel from the domestic gas supply would capture some of the advantage of electrics.

Since our HOA is not going to allow us to install an electric charging station, the idea of an all electric vehicle is out of the question.

I've no doubt they would try. Can't you just unplug your electric clothes dryer and plug the car in there?