Diesel better than gas-hybrids
Posted on January 9, 2005
Filed Under VW, Diesel |
Volkswagen Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder is pushing for further development of higher fuel economy car using diesel engines over the much more complicated, and less efficient than expected, hybrid engines.
Here is the story.
Much can be said for the benefits of diesel over gasoline powered engines. The North American market cannot seem to want to get away from the gasoline attachment. Instead of moving to cleaner, more efficient engines… we have a cheap hack on the current one.
VW had a hybrid van used as a taxi back in the 1970’s. A stack of batteries lay in what should have been the passanger seat. VW realised back then that what would become the buzzword of today’s high efficiency engines wasn’t a good idea. Instead they pushed forward to develop one of the quietest, cleanest, and most efficient diesel engines. Combined with biodiesel fuel, you have the best option on the road today. Much cleaner, much more efficient.
“The use of plant oil as fuel may seem insignificant today. But such products can in time become as important as fossil fuels of today”. This was in 1912. Too bad Rudolf Diesel’s idea that his engine design would help propogate the used of non-petroleum, biodiesel fuels.
It is a shame that automotive manufacturers haven’t realized the benefits of the century old technology. I hope Pischetsrieder’s appeal will make some of his colleagues see the light.
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2 Responses to “Diesel better than gas-hybrids”
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You took management. It’s all about the cost of developing the new technology. You don’t just build something because it’s cool or even the right thing to do in some cases.
Until gas costs 12 times what it does today I think you’ll see gasoline cars continued to be pumped out of factories. Sure people groan and complain, but people still pay because they don’t know what to do w/o a car.
We’ll look back on these days with pride when we are old and grey telling our grand kids about gasoline automobiles like a Mustang Shelby. Only the rich collectors will be able to afford and run them.
Your arguement of not developing the new (complex and costly hybrid) technology supports my point.
Diesel fuel is traditionally lower cost than gasoline, and you get many more KMs per liter. (the current higher cost of diesel will only continue until the bubble bursts on the Chinese economy and demand settles to a normal level) So less cost more KM. If you do the economics, like many Europeans have, then diesels are superior. One of the major problems with the North American market is that slow, loud, smelly diesels from the american big 3 in years past soiled the name of the diesel.