Are These New Diesels Here To Stay? Or Just Another Flash In The Pan?

There has been a pretty large effort from many directions that I think will contribute to the success of diesels having a sustainable impact on the US market.
- There has been significant expansions and technology upgrades in the refining industry in order to accommodate an increase in ULSD demand.
- There will be a shift in where our oil will be coming from in the next decade or so: Canadian tar sands. Huge projects are under way to extract, pipe and refine this heavier oil that will support higher diesel output.
- Car manufacturers from a broad spectrum are developing Clean Diesel technology, including Mazda, Ford, Audi, MB, BMW, Honda.
- If Obama gets elected, then biodiesel will also get great support from the government. I also believe that McCain would back biodiesel if he ends up being elected - he hasn't yet simply b/c Obama supports it.

Of course, I was born right at the end of the last diesel downturn so I don't know everything that caused it to fail. But if it's simply public perception, I believe diesel will prevail this go around.

nobama

that dude is pulling way above his weight.

That's 001.

001 lost some weight
good job

There are some major refineries opening in India (Jamnakar) and China which should relieve the ULSD shortages around the world. I think diesel is here for a while, but electric is the vehicle of 2025 and beyond imho.

I think diesel is the combustion fuel/engine of the future in one way or the other. The bad side of diesel efforts are the expensive emissions control devices (which hopefully will become less so the more are built) and the high price of the fuel. I think biodiesel is the way to go to solve this. If we stick to petrodiesel the technology will die as the fuel supply will become short (a barrel of oil can only produce so much diesel and no more) and hence more expensive. I can't wait for the Honda Accord i-CTDi to go on sale on this side of the Atlantic. I have a sneaky feeling that when Honda offers it, it will suddenly become a hit. A HUGE hit.

I drove a new Jetta diesel last week (most dealers have demos now) and frankly the torque made it feel faster than the gasoline engine, was more fun to drive. Plus remember the gov't incentives on these makes the price premium more palatable.

400+ lbft of torque in a 3.0L engine. How does that sound?

here the price is 5 cents away per gallon

huu - inefficient compared to what? Magic fairy dust?

Thanks Sailor, I think you covered it.

I applaud all the efforts of bringing fuel efficient and clean diesel vehicles to the US, but unfortunately the price of diesel fuel will keep many from considering diesel cars. Here in Oklahoma regular gasoline recently dropped and currently selling around $2.40, premium $2.60, and diesel around $3.50.

well it's different in other places, so it all depends on where you live. Not everyone lives in Oklahoma.

here regular and diesel are both $3.69

Whoa...regular and diesel are the same price? I haven't heard of that. Maybe premium and diesel. Here in St. Louis diesel has about a 30 cent margin over diesel.

premium and diesel are about the same price. the forcast is to dip below premium for about a year or so

I wish diesel fuel would come down much lower. This summer, when regular was $3.59 and premium $3.79, diesel was at least $4.19 or so, always staying at least 60 cents higher than regular.