Once upon a time, the philosophy behind letting a diesel engine idle was that it did more wear and tear on the engine and the fuel cost was marginal. Plus, long haul drivers sleep and relax in their trucks so it becomes a home away from home that needs power and climate control for a good night sleep.

Local New Oxford blogger (youngtrucker.blogspot.com) reminds fellow drivers to use an auxiliary power unit (APU). The small motor generator combination powers the mobile home of a driver while greatly reducing fuel cost by not running the large engine.

Each year, U.S. Trucks consume more than 1 billion gallons of diesel fuel without even moving. More specifically, the University of California, Davis estimates that each year the average truck consumes approximately 1,818 gallons of diesel fuel while idling. Under this assumption, those calculations result in over $6,000 in fuel costs at a national average of $3.00/ gallon per truck, per year. peakpowertools.com

And that was last week the current average price for road diesel in the US is $4.15 (5/5/08) That is an increase of $1.36 in the past year. In York County, $4.29 is about the lowest price today for a gallon of diesel.

Posted in All posts from the start Diesel Innovation MPG

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Motor trend test drives a 2008 Subaru diesel. The car will probably not be available in the US until 2009/10 and will get about 50 mpg which is really great considering gasoline powered Subarus aren't known for terribly great mileage.

The question for 2009 remains... what will be the price of diesel? Currently diesel fuel costs more than a dollar more than for unleaded regular. If a gasoline and diesel powered car can both get 45-50mpg, 2009 won't look good for marketing clean diesel cars if there is a $2 difference in the price of fuel.

The price of diesel is expected to continue (wsj.com) European consumers are switching over to more diesels-demand. Developing countries prefer diesel for it's flexibility-demand. The U.S. is the top consumer of diesel in the world and with a somewhat fixed refining capacity, refiners cannot switch from gasoline easily. And switching that capacity would increase the price of gasoline.

Video: Subaru has used it's traditional boxer engine design and applied it to a diesel.

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The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that marine and locomotive engines must meet tougher pollution controls, hoping for dramatic cuts in the amount of smog-causing chemicals and soot coming from trains, cargo ships, tugboats and passenger ferries.

A study by Environmental Defense two years ago found that ships at three of the nation's largest ports — Los Angeles, Houston and New York-New Jersey — together produced as much smog causing chemicals as 1 million cars. The group also found the nation's locomotives produced fine soot, or particulate, equal to 70 coal burning power plants and as much smog causing nitrogen oxide as 120 coal plants. (AP)

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The Golf Hybrid will get almost 70 mph while meeting Europe's stringent Euro V and America's Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standards, making it green enough even for California. The car is said to emit just 89 g/km of CO2.
(For comparison, the Prius emits 104 g/km and Honda Civic Hybrid emits 116.) wired.com

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Photovoltaic panels in the moonroof add to the charge of the batteries and also power pre-heaters for the transmission fluid and diesel fuel, the manufacturer says cuts warm-up times considerably and, in turn, further boosting efficiency. The wheels have sail-shaped spokes designed for efficient ventilation and lower wind resistance.

BMW calls it a "Mild ActiveHybrid," which means it's similar in concept to the gasoline-electric systems in large SUVs and pickups from General Motors and the Honda Civic Hybrid.

The Vision EfficientDynamics employs a 2.0-liter clean diesel engine with twin variable-geometry turbochargers and direct injection that produces 204 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. To fully exploit the diesel engine's relatively narrow rev range, BMW fitted the concept with a new eight-speed automatic gearbox from ZF. Flange-mounted to the transmission is an electric motor-generator powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that spins out an additional 20 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque during acceleration.

The bottom line is about 36 mpg combined city/highway with emissions of only 172 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer (consider that the X5 3.0si returns roughly half as many miles per gallon and emits 244 g/km) blog.wired.com

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American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
annual list of the most environmentally-friendly cars by class:
TOYOTA PRIUS
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID
SMART FORTWO CONVERTIBLE/COUPE 1.0L 3, auto stk
HONDA FIT 1.5L 4, auto
FORD ESCAPE HYBRID
HYUNDAI SONATA 2.4L 4, auto
SUBARU OUTBACK WAGON 2.5L 4, auto stk 4wd
NISSAN ROGUE 2.5L 4, auto
TOYOTA TACOMA 2.7L 4, auto
TOYOTA SIENNA 3.5L 6, auto
CHEVROLET TAHOE HYBRID C1500 6.0L 8, auto
NISSAN FRONTIER 4.0L 6, auto 4wd

full listing and reasoning of how they arrive at a green score greenercars.org

And vehicles with the lowest green score:
VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG
BUGATTI VEYRON
MERCEDES-BENZ GL320 CD
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 3.0L 6, auto 4wd
MERCEDES-BENZ R320 CDI 3.0L 6, auto 4wd
LAMBORGHINI MURCIELAGO
MURCIELAGO ROADSTER 6.5L 12, manual 4wd
MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 CD
MERCEDES-BENZ G55 AMG 5.4L 8, auto 4wd
HUMMER H2 c 6.0L 8, auto 4wd
GMC YUKON 2500 c 6.0L 8, auto 4wd
BENTLEY AZURE 6.7L 8, auto stk
BENTLEY ARNAGE d 6.7L 8, auto stk

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The diesel-electric hybrid is expected to attain 69 mpg

The diesel engine used in the Golf Hybrid meets all Euro 5 emissions criteria and also passes the stringent Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standards here in the U.S.

Given that costs involved with producing a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain, VW is looking to spread the technology to a number of its vehicle lines. According to 4Car, likely transplants include the VW Jetta and the Audi A3. Other Golf-based vehicles that would be a prime target for the new powertrain include the upcoming VW Tiguan and Audi Q5 crossovers. dailytech.com

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The car was on a clean technology tour sponsored by the Diesel Technology Forum.

Honda expects to bring the clean-diesel car to the U.S. by 2010. It gets 62.8 miles a gallon on the highway, but otherwise looks and feels like a regular Accord. At that mileage level, the car is about as "clean" as a new Toyota Prius. But if you run it on biodiesel, a form of diesel made from vegetable oil or animal fat, it would be even cleaner than a Prius (Priuses get 60 in the city) 4/07. [actually the new EPA sticker shows 48 mpg City/45 mpg Highway]cnet

The passing of the recent energy bill, with fuel efficiency requirements, will push clean diesel into the spotlight, particularly with heavier vehicle applications.

Diesel is an energy-dense fuel compared to gasoline – delivering both more miles per gallon (20-40 percent more) and lower emissions of greenhouse gases (10-20 percent less). Automotive forecasters at JD Power & Associates and the U.S. Department of Energy predict that clean diesel cars could account for 10-15 percent of all new vehicle sales by 2015, up from just over 3 percent today. dieselforum

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Clean diesel technology offers consumers a viable alternative to gasoline using technology that has already evolved and can be further tweaked. It is fuel with an entrenched fuel infrastructure that can be substituted with bio-fuels as inventiveness blossoms.

GEO2 Technologies is one of the flowers bearing fruit by developing a ceramic composite material for use as catalyst support substrates and particulate filters for diesel engines. According to their website, the technology can reduce manufactures cost by 30% with a product that offers low back pressure and a high filtering capacity.

About half of the vehicles in Europe are diesel while the technology in the U.S. stands at about 2%. A diesel engine is about 20% more efficient than a gasoline engine. Diesel ,gallon for gallon, creates more energy.

Source:U.S. Gov. Energy Infromation

There still a cost consideration to the consumer for running gasoline over petroleum diesel which is quite substantial in some parts of the country. If there is a 45 cent per gallon cost difference between each fuel as it often is here in York, Pennsylvania, a 20% gain in efficiency is quickly eroded. There are more taxes paid at the pump for diesel, which is an attempt to extract over-the-road charges for trucking. However, the diesel will probably be simpler, cheaper and easier to maintain in a high mileage vehicle than a gasoline hybrid.

Unlike corn based ethanol production (that places pressure on food stock with a highly taxpayer subsidized fuel that takes great amounts of energy to produce a fuel that is less efficient than fossil fuels), increasing clean diesel production isn't diverting a commodity jacking up prices/inflation for consumers.

If you need more diesel, you will need less gasoline the equation on the equity market actually decreases. As a bonus the cars running diesel take 20% less fuel so less crude is needed and we become less energy dependent.

While many countries have adopted diesel as their dominant fuel due to the necessity of historically overall high energy prices, the U.S. has historically enjoyed cheap gasoline and marginalized diesel via marketing and tax structure as a working fuel (for trucks/trains/farm).

The biggest hurdle to drawing in clean diesel technology as one of our short-term Band-Aid energy solutions will be overcoming a long standing perception by consumers and bureaucrats that this is a truck fuel and shouldn't be part of the equation. Propelling an idea that doesn't create large profits for a large market force and only may benefit the consumer in the short-term isn't a market motivator.

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Unlike the evolution of the Humvee to Hummer, the civilian diesel motorcycle products from HDT will offer the consumer with a way to squeeze fuel.

The U.S. military wanted to streamline their fuel needs. Instead of multiple fuels for different vehicles they wanted to economize the distribution process with one fuel.

The problem is that a diesel Humvee and a motorcycle had to run on the same fuel and no domestic manufacturer wanted to produce a diesel motorcycle. A group of small manufactures bid on the project and Hayes Diversified Technologies of Hesperia, CA won.

The 4-Stroke, IDI, single cylinder, liquid cooled diesel motorcycle is rated at 96 mpg. Two models have been slated for civilian production but military demand has been so great that the civilian models have been postponed.

The civilian D650A1 Bulldog has a projected dry weight of less than 400 pounds and the motorcycle is expected to have more than 600 miles of range on a tank of diesel, achieving in excess of 100 mpg.

Biofuel Diesel Motorcycle Wins At Bonneville Speed Trials (11/01/07)

Unlike any other machine at Bonneville, HDT’s diesel bike is capable of fording a 24-in. stream, and climbing or descending a 60 percent grade while operating on any version of diesel, kerosene or jet fuel. The HDT diesel bikes operated on B20 biodiesel (20 percent soybean, vegetable oil and other agricultural components; 80 percent petroleum diesel).

Ironically, consumers will have to wait for military action to wind down in the Middle East before that can conserve oil with a 100 mpg motorcycle.

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