Bosch Claims It Can Save Diesels WITHOUT Cheating

@Agent009: "Save Diesels WITHOUT Cheating" - sarcasm of the 21st century.

Imagine that Bosch not cheating or gassing Jews -how ethical!

Bosch will have to submit to independent testing before anyone will believe a word they say, but if it's true it certainly makes diesel viable again for a while.

Since the same car with a diesel engine can sometimes have as much as 40-50% better economy, with the resultant reduction of CO2, it will help bridge the gap between today's battery technology and what's bound to come in the next decade or more.

Again - since Diesel engines are not well received for cars in the American Market (They do alright with trucks though) - this is really a European situation. WE already know that such claims will be heavily tested by a number of countries BEFORE any of them come on the market.

But as I said before - given time - there will be a solution to the emissions of a Diesel engine - and because Diesel is so much cheaper than gasoline in Europe - it still will be the engine of choice for most cars. Certainly the countries that are threatening to ban them - will have to reconsider if these new Bosch Systems actually work.

Diesel is cheaper in Europe because it was subsidized by governments under the guise of lower CO2 emissions (in actuality to protect European car makers). Diesels never took off in the USA because the payoff just is not there when one looks at the higher purchase price, more expensive maintenance and higher fuel costs.

This situation has blown up in the faces of the EU governments, and it is not obvious that Diesels are not a viable solution to decrease emissions. Hybrids are at this point a much more economical and practical solution to improve fuel economy and decrease emissions. Many European countries/cities are considering a ban on Diesel small vehicles...this would be a huge hit to the German Auto Cartel and they are basically the only ones at this point who are advocating for diesel technology.

Diesel prices vary all over the country, as well as by time of year. However, for quite a few months here in the Seattle area D2 prices have been under premium gas, and often no higher than regular.

For the two years that I had my Passat TDI, my fuel cost was a hair over 2 cents per mile. Besides the higher mileage, using fuel discount points usually knocked $1 per gallon off the price. At that cost, a hybrid would be hard pressed to equal, let alone beat the cost.

Hybrids are fine for many people, but if you have long distances to travel they usually are no better than a gas powered equivalent model. Personally, I really liked driving with a diesel engine. If Bosch can make good on this claim, I'd love to see models available again.

@atc98092: I was in the Seattle area a few weeks ago - beautiful place. Re cost of 2c per mile, it's awfully cheap but I think there's an error somewhere. At a cost over $3 a gallon, 2c a mile translates to over 150 mpg. Who needs Bosch if VW can deliver ?

@malba2367: Diesels do reduce certain emissions compared to gasoline engines, specifically CO2, a greenhouse gas (unless one is into global climate change denial). This is a big deal for folks who are concerned about reducing humanity's cataclysmic contribution to detrimentally changing the climate.

A properly functioning modern diesel also does not emit carbon nanoparticles (AKA "soot"), which happen to be the wrong size for human health. The DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) takes care of this.

Where diesel is a villain is in producing NOx (oxides of nitrogen). The Dieselgate scandal was using a cheat device for emissions tests, but the real detrimental impact in affected vehicles was that they released lots more toxic NOx in real world conditions than lab-legal levels.

New technologies -- such as those alleged to be coming from Bosch, as well as developments from the University of Waterloo -- allege real-world NOx production that is a mere 20% of the strictest European limits.

*IF* this is true -- and that's a huge "if" in light of widespread emissions cheating discovered subsequent to Dieselgate -- then diesel engines would be MUCH cleaner, genuinely, in ALL emissions respects, compared to similar current gasoline engines. They're also more fuel efficient. That is a big deal.

Meanwhile, gasoline ICE technology is also advancing. Mazda's new HCCI engine (which they allege will be in production by the end of 2019) will deliver most of the advantages of a diesel engine (better fuel economy, abundant low-end torque, lower CO2 emissions), while also delivering negligible NOx, all with regular gasoline. This is another promising technology, providing it delivers as promised and becomes a real product.

#EVisNow MPG and cost per mile was calculated using the Fuelly app, so the numbers are accurate. The reason for the low cost was two-fold. First, using Fred Meyer (Kroger) fuel points at Shell stations I always got a $1 per gallon discount. Second, there was a station near my home that doubled my discount to $2 per gallon. There were several months in 2015 that I was paying 29 cents a gallon for diesel. So yeah, 2 cents per mile was accurate. Without that double discount, it likely would have been about 3 cents per mile.

Assuming Bosch is truthful, this is great news! I'm all for lower emissions (measured legitimately, without fraud/trickery/gaming the system).

University of Waterloo also claims to have a "simple" technology that dramatically reduces emissions (CO2, which is already low compared to gasoline engines, and harmful NOx).

Considering that about 25% of every barrel of crude ends up refined as diesel fuel (a non-negotiable output), I say GENUINELY clean(er) diesel is a good thing for everyone.