Diesel provides better fuel economy. Why don't more automakers offer diesel engines?
by 
jpchurch34
ANSWERS: 7
-
Diesel costs more. They must stay warm in the winter or they won't start. They take a lot more motor oil to stay running. They run harder. It gets moldy if it sits for an extended period of time. Basically, the convenience factor outweighs the little better mileage they offer.
-
They do but not in North America.
-
diesel pollutes more. As far as I know, it's still more damaging to the environment than gas, even though it's more efficient
-
They did back in the seventies. Then gas got cheap again and people stopped buying them. They can't switch back overnight.
-
They do offer them, they just don't offer them for sale in North America. Diesel engines are very popular in Europe and Asia. They are also very popular even in North America with those few of us who still drive diesels (mostly VW, Mercedes, and pickups). Many Americans were left with a bitter taste for diesel after GM's failed experiments with diesel powered passenger cars in the late seventies and early eighties. Current diesels have been tuned to perform more like gasoline engines when compared to earlier models, and since 2007 must meet the same emissions standards as gasoline engines. Right now due to taxes and supply constraints diesel costs a little higher than gasoline, but since it also has more energy per gallon, you still come out money ahead. (FWIW Alcohol has less energy per gallon which is why flex fuel cars get such poor mileage when running E85.) You'll probably see more diesels in the future. The Germans have always offered them, but Honda and Hyundai are said to be bringing diesel cars to the US, and you'll see more on the domestic front as well.
-
it's all supply and demand. right now it's not supplied because we haven't been demanding.
-
this is not always the case, new diesels use ulsd diesel fuel (ultra low sulfur diesel)and car companies have to install emissions equipt. The new Fords use a DPF system that traps the black soot from the diesel exhaust, however this filter has to be cleaned, to do this the engine computer overfuels the injector to introduce raw fuel into the exhaust, which in turn burns the soot from the filter. An 06 6.0 liter diesel pu truck gets up to 28 mph hwy, a new 6.4 liter get around 8-10 mpg. The problem is making it clean while keeping the fuel economy. VW is making a golf that gets 79 mpg hwy with diesel as a fuel. this is a good idea, may 6 cyl engine can be replaced with 4 cyl diesels that make the same, if not more power than the 6, but the issue of emissions is a problem. currently the need for clean diesels is driving down the fuel economy
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC