Poll for Americans: What about Diesel engines?

[bgd73]

piezo injectors, bed plates, two stage boost....oh my.

old diesels are done, for real. The aformentioned is just a few things to mention. when internal parts are "allowed" resources(and we all must have encountered something in autos that "should" have been stronger, "they" don't tell us these cute little billion dollar saving secrets).

Diesel temperatures are hotter than gasoline, for a longer time. even a newer truck has outrageous pipe temps to monitor 6 feet after combustion into thousands of degrees. I don't recall an 81 cornbinder getting that hot...even loaded..in the middle of summer...
It is another reason the stereotype of diesel and true big mouths do not know what to say...they have kept all diesel machines cold except some tractor trailers and maybe some trains and planes since the dawn of diesels. The past two or 3 years they are letting it be good. New engines again, are allowed to boost even down low, that is the #1 emission cure...allow the darn diesel to burn...that needed stronger smarter engines.

The funny part of engine history is the very counterbalanced crank that hotrodders spin crazy rpms on gasoline...the whole time it belonged in a diesel, I am certain of it with no doubts. Put a benz crank to a balanced V or flat gas engine and listen to how disciplined the fast fuel can be.A 3 main boxer isn't a legend for nothing...

I am a fan of diesel and mastering fuel in general of course. I hope to get a diesel, the small v8 especially. My last common sense gas engine is a 3 main boxer.The rest of the gas engines hurt themselves just to claim over big hp numbers.

[12voltsolar]

I'd take an awd tdi like I've seen in the eu! If it exists it must be possible. Also my ride share guy at work coverted his old diesel to a grease car I call it a ride in the fryer. Smells like fries. He makes his own but a local con-greenience store opened that sells b10, b20, & b100.

How about a diesel electric hybrid like locomotives are.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

I think most of us are probably just going on past performance. We've had several decades of listening to Detroit say "but we can't possibly do that", where "that" seems to be anything but build bigger cars with worse fuel economy. So why should we believe them this time around?

Maybe because they developed super efficient diesel hybrids in the past.

NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles

Gm had developed the 80 mpg diesel hybrid Precept, ford had developed the 72 mpg diesel hybrid Prodigy, and Chrysler had developed the 72 mpg diesel-hybrid ESX-3. (Suck it prius owners :P ) They were ready to go into production with these cars only to be kicked in the nads by the epa.

Review of the Research Program of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles: Seventh Report

Note CIDI = Compression Ignition Direct Injection

"The last committee report (NRC, 2000) noted that the Tier 2 NO x and particulate matter (PM) emission standards could preclude the early introduction and widespread use in the United States of CIDI engines for passenger cars. Without the CIDI engine the fuel economy of near-term PNGV cars could drop by as much as 25 percent, the approximate difference in fuel economy between a CIDI and a homogeneous-charge, spark-ignition engine. Although, as detailed later in this report, significant progress is being made in developing exhaust after-treatment systems for CIDI engines, these devices make this power plant less attractive by increasing its fuel consumption and cost. Alternative power plants that can meet the Tier 2 emission standards will, in all likelihood, have substantially higher fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This raises the obvious policy question of the relative importance to the nation of decreasing fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions compared with the need to tighten the NO x and PM standards at this time."

If it wasn't for this sudden tightening of emissions standards the big 3 would have beaten the foreign car makers to the punch with hybrid cars.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by ConnClark

If it wasn't for this sudden tightening of emissions standards the big 3 would have beaten the foreign car makers to the punch with hybrid cars.

The big 3 could've done exactly what they did w/ diesels w/ gassers instead. Sure, they would loose ~9-10mpg because diesel has ~12% more energy than gasoline per gallon, but I'm pretty sure a 50-60mpg full sized sedan would've been a great answer to Toyota's Prius. The big 3 have no excuse for abandoning PNGV. It's not like there's a patent for hybridizing a gasoline drivetrain as opposed to a diesel drivetrain. They were either deliberately incompetent, or just plain incompetent. Holding diesels to the same standards as gassers had nothing to do w/ their incompetence since there were other viable avenues for PNGV. As we can see now, T2B5 isn't a problem either for other manufacturers, so it isn't even diesel emissions standards that are the problem, just more of the same BS from the big 3.

[Frank Lee]

Yeah, I've often wondered what the "fruits" of the PNGV program were... nobody seems to have anything to show for the millions upon millions that were poured into it.

[roflwaffle]

The fruits? Moar SUV fer now, and in the post-apocalyptic z0mbie future, zillion ruble hydrogen fuel cell vehicles comrade! In all fairness there are a couple companies who got something out of it. While the big 3 were dumping millions in federal funds into vehicles they would never produce, Toyota and Honda were developing their own hybrids from the ground up w/ no federal assistance, even from their own government IIRC! Zee rest, as zay say, iz zee history. Toyota became the world's largest automaker w/ the lamest "I want my mpg" commercials ever and GM became the world's lamest automaker w/ the largest "I want my free moneyz" B.S. evar.

[Frank Lee]

Yup...

"The details were to supplement a framework struck late on Friday on the amount of aid -- up to $17 billion -- and the source of funding, an Energy Department loan program approved in September to help automakers make more fuel-efficient cars. The bridge loans are designed to carry industry into spring."
"Car Czar" Proposed For Any Automaker Bailout

Gotta wonder how much more HELP they need to make fuel efficient cars?!? A Billion wasn't enough? Well at least it's a LOAN this time...?



More than a billion dollars in taxpayer money has been thrown at the highly capitalized auto industry through PNGV. Furthermore, there is virtually nothing to show for this expenditure – except a lost decade in the quest for heightened fuel efficiency.
The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles Is Corporate Welfare At It's Worst

[roflwaffle]

Lets just hope this administration can do a better job restructuring GM than the last administration did restructuring Iraq.