SinceSlicedBread.com Update – Please Read
I have been asked to be a Guest Poster on the SinceSlicedBread.com website. The Guidelines are simple: Be interesting, address a topic that is of concern to the every day American family, and avoid talking about a specific idea posting (like plugging one, etc). I have formulated a rough draft, and want your input…
Energy is a very hot topic on this site, Oil & Gas being quite possibly public enemy #1. As a degreed Mechanical Engineer, Energy is right up my alley, and I have done my share of reviews, as well as commit myself and my family to doing The Right Thing whenever we can. It is in this frame of mind that I would like to discuss technology near and dear to my heart: Diesel.
We have 2 diesel vehicles, and you may be surprised to find out that neither is a truck. Our sedan can get 50mpg on the Highway (40 mpg combined), and my “Daddywagon” – named by my 2 year old, gets 42mpg Highway (35mpg combined). I could use this opportunity to talk about how awesome the torque is, how durable the engines are, and of course, my use of BioDiesel. But there is plenty of information out there on the web on all those things, with BioDiesel having quite a few idea postings in it’s own right. Instead, I’d like to bring up something much more frustrating, and attempt to prod the masses into helping me do something about it: the availability of non-truck based diesel vehicles in the U.S.
It can all be traced back to California, or more appropriately, California Emissions standards. To make a long story short, CA regulated emissions based on Visible Pollution output, which is not necessarily bad in it’s own right. The issues are in the details – the regulations are heavily biased towards gasoline and it’s properties, so much so that you CAN NOT purchase a new diesel car in that state until it has 7500 miles on it. As you may be aware, other states have followed California’s lead, to the point where a significant percentage of the US population is not allowed to buy a new diesel car, and the federal regulations are beginning to sway that way as well. What we are left with is a marketplace that is not very enticing for auto manufacturers, each of them having access to brilliant diesel technology that they use everywhere else (heck, Europe boasts having over 50% of it’s vehicles powered by diesel), that they could quickly drop into virtually all of their offerings here.
Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel is coming to the US, and that will help car manufacturers add the appropriate emissions control systems that they cannot use today (Sulfur is not easy to deal with – but it does make a decent engine lubricant where it counts). Even with the better technology, unless the regulations change, or exemptions given, you still will have a hard time buying a diesel-powered car, or using that new tax-break anytime soon.
It’s sad that BioDiesel is available now (more or less), and has incredible promise for our future, and yet the average American can readily find a diesel truck that gets 15-20 mpg on almost every car lot, but NOT a car/wagon/suv that gets 30-40 mpg, or more.
I submit to you that it isn’t good enough to have efficient fuel if we can’t have access to efficient vehicles that burn that fuel. This, like other Energy topics, it the crux of the matter: We can’t have one without something else being available as well (Solar/Wind/Wave/Nuclear electrical generation still requires a better battery then we have today). The Big Picture demands more then just BioDiesel; we need the technology that the rest of the world is using today. How else can we partake in the promise of Fossil Free Fuel?
Ok. I’ll go step behind this lead shield now…
December 24th, 2005 at 9:03 am
Do you not think that with the new energy bill and the increase in ethanol production for bio fuels and such that the diesel argument will be strengthened? Just a thought. And if I seem a bit off in the question I base it upon conversations I heard during the energy bill referendum involving ANWAR and all that. As for me, I have heard nothing but good news from Diesel owners and look forward to owning my own some day when my truck finally decides to quit, but for now the American engineering is holding true and running strong.
December 24th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
My goal was to show that home-grown fuel is available now, but the cars to burn them in are not. What’s the point in having “earth efficient” fuels if they can only be driven in inefficient trucks in the US?
If I need to do a better job saying that, then I will do so…
January 9th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I think the big problem with diesel non-trucks is actually two-fold: one of regulation, which you outlined above, and one of perception. Like it or not, the vast majority of Camry/Accord consumers think “old Mercedes sedans, VW Eurobuses and big honkin’ trucks” when they hear the word “diesel”. Thus, car manufacturers are practically doubly disincentivized from producing non-truck diesels for the US market. I think removing the first barrier would go a long way towards opening the marketplace, but you’d still have to get people to buy the stinkin’ things.
What I’m waiting for is the first diesel hybrid to hit the streets. I bet whoever comes up with a marketable vehicle platform for such will sell gazillions.
January 9th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Diesel Hybrids will be talked about this week in Detroit. Ford just announced their concept car. Chrysler had a Diesel-Hybrid concept Intrepid way back in 1999 – got 70 mpg. Got canned in 2000 – the elections being a factor is purely speculation…
January 9th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Note I said “hits the streets” and “marketable”. Your counterexamples, while slightly compelling, apparently lacked those qualities.
Btw, have you seen the new Camry? Looks like crap.
January 9th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
Toyota has learned from the US – do not take design risks with your bread & butter product. They will however take risks with other cars (like the echo and the prius) and see reactions…
January 13th, 2006 at 1:08 am
I really hope, for your sake, you did not Guest Post. The competition has now blown up in the face of the organizers, the SEIU.
Instead of picking 21 original ideas, as the Rules decreed, the SEIU simply substituted a wish list of its own political ambitions.
The site is now in uproar. There are already more than 1,000 blog postings on the site itself, excoriating the organizers for breaking their own Rules.
There is talk of legal action. And the Chairman of Judges, former Senator Bill Bradley, has been asked to make a statement. So far, he has refused.
His continuing silence is the most eloquent condemnation of yet another cynical attempt by a special interest group to manipulate ordinary Americans.
January 15th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
[...] The rapidly growing global demand for oil combined with all number of supply issues has increased gas prices over the last year. This we all know. Fortunately Americans are responding to this as any economist would predict. As the prices rise the demand for alternatives also rises. Some people are responding reasonably by directly altering their behavior. Andy I, for example is a big proponent of biodiesel. Unfortunately others are trying to alter the behavior of others through via the government. I’ve gone on and on here about such things. Some proposals are good and others are completely horrible. [...]