We have now
pretty much covered the workings and the advantages and concerns about diesel
engine vehicles. The only things remaining are why they are so poorly accepted
in the USA compared to the rest of the world and also what are the current and
future diesel engine vehicles that are available to us.
In the
United States, diesels presently account for only about three percent of the
personal transportation vehicles on the road today. In Europe, the average is
about 50 percent, with France having the highest total at about 70 percent
diesels. Germany is about 50 percent, which includes almost all police cars and
taxis, while England rates about 38 percent. If diesels rate so much better
fuel economy and engine longevity, what is the reason for this disparity?
Actually, the reasons are many, and there is enough blame to cover almost
everyone. From government regulations to US automakers mistakes and
indifference to public perceptions and misinformation, there is much fault to
find.
The first
subject is government regulations. In Europe, the governments encourage the use
of diesel by taxing diesel fuel is taxed at a rate of about one half what
gasoline is taxed. In the United States, federal fuel tax is 18.4 cents per
gallon on gasoline while it is 24.4 cents on diesel. Also, our government
subsidizes the making of ethanol despite the fuel’s terrible economics and its
impact on the environment as a whole (ethanol takes a great deal of energy to
produce which contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming), and also
requires extensive modifications to the engine and fuel system to allow its
use. On the other hand, biodiesel can be better for the environment, requires
much less energy to create, utilizes food waste to produce, and also requires
little or no modification to a diesel engine to use. Biodiesel is also carbon
neutral, which appeals to environmentally conscious consumers.
As far as
other environmental impacts, while it is true that diesels emit more
particulates per gallon burned than gasoline does, there is something skewed in
the way the government calculates it. If one vehicle emits 1 percent noxious
oxides into the environment and another emits 1.5 percent, which is better for
the environment? Clearly the one emitting 1.5 percent if it achieved twice the
mileage of the other! But the government does not see it that way. Everything
works by proportion, so a thrifty Toyota Corolla is judge by the same standard
as a gas hog Cadillac or even worse a heavy duty GMC Yukon, which is still
considered better than a VW Jetta TDI.
And, while we are familiar with the
fleet average mileage law, there is also a much lesser known fleet average
emissions law. This is why almost every year Volkswagen runs out of
turbo-diesels part way through the year. And in some states such as California,
New York, Massachusetts and Maine, they have even more stringent regulations.
In California, there is a regulation on the number of one-ton diesel vehicles
allowed to be sold each year. For this reason, in California, you do not find
Dodge offering diesels in anything except its high profit Ram trucks. And, even
though it is powered by a small, highly fuel efficient diesel, the Freightliner
Sprinter was delayed a year being introduced into those states because it was a
diesel only vehicle, unlike Dodge which had gas and diesel versions and came to
market a year sooner.
The second
reason is the US automakers. As we have already seen, in certain places,
vehicles are released based on profit margin only. In Europe, Dodge sells
diesel-powered caravans, which amount to between 75 and 80 percent of European
Caravan sales. Dodge also released diesel powered Neons and PT Cruisers for the
European market. Another factor is that
US automakers have always charged a substantially higher price for a comparably
equipped diesel powered vehicle. This, combined with the higher diesel fuel
price has discouraged the American public from spending the extra dollars.
But, probably the biggest problem
created by the manufacturers, which affected the sale of diesels in the United
States, occurred during the first oil crisis in the 1970s.
Several manufacturers, most notably General Motors in an
attempt to rush diesels into the US market, converted gasoline engines into
diesels without strengthening the engine block to handle the much higher
compression. The engines were very unreliable and basically at times blew up
without warning, sometimes with very low mileage on them. These, combined with
the fact that these older diesels were very sluggish on performance, smoked,
and were very noisy; left a very bad taste in the American car buying publics’
mouth toward diesel engines.
Many of the public perceptions of
diesels, noise, smoke; vibration, poor acceleration and cost have been
addressed with the newest generations of diesels. Better balancing and
injection systems have lessened the noise and vibration. Smoke and smell have
pretty much been eliminated with the new ultra low sulfur fuels. Poor acceleration
has been eliminated by new cylinder head designs, fuel injection improvements
and turbocharging. And many manufacturers have eliminated the surcharge for a
diesel or at least reduced it to a reasonable amount.
While for
years, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen and a few other small companies were the only
ones offering diesel powered vehicles in the United States; there are now quite
a few choices available in many different size and types of vehicles. And, very
soon, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler will be offering diesels in the
domestic marketplace.
I
personally can attest to the strength and reliability of diesel engines. I grew
up around diesels as my father has driven them since the late 1950’s. He had a
number of 170, 180, 190, and 240 Mercedes Diesels along with a few Peugeot
504s. His 1953 Mercedes 170DS was actually in the Guinness Book of World
Records with the highest documented mileage vehicle in the world in 1979 and
1980. His Mercedes had 844,000 miles on it, and basically we did all the work
on the car at home. We rebuilt the transmission or engine, replaced head
gaskets or whatever work was required to keep it on the road. My father worked
in Philadelphia for 14 years and commuted every day, for one 14-month period
working seven days a week. There were times on extremely cold winter days, that
for fear of not being able to start the car when he came out of work, he would
lock the car and let it idle all day. The only times he would take the car to
the shop was for state inspections or to the dealer each time it turned another
100,000 so that it could be duly noted. In addition to the mileage awards he
received from Mercedes for this car, they also recognized him for 1,500,000
combined miles on his various Mercedes. Mercedes actually took the engine and
transmission from his car and sent them back to Germany where the training
school rebuilt and restored them for him. Also, when I traveled to Germany in
1980 while they went there for vacation, my father and I received a personally
guided tour of the Mercedes Museum by its Curator, in spite of fact that the
Museum was closed at the time.
