Canadian writer gets converted to diesel and loves it!
Most drivers in North America old enough to remember the first wave of diesel cars that came our way in the early to mid-1980s have unpleasant memories of those cars. They were slow, smelly, smoky, noisy and did I mention slow. They got great fuel economy but had little else to recommend them. Two decades on and things have changed quite dramatically.
Writing in the London Free Press, Russ Bond has been converted. With memories of a past neighbor's old Peugeot 504 still resonating, he spent a week with a new Mercedes E320 Bluetec. The torque of the 3.0L turbo-diesel combined with a seven speed automatic was enough to convince him that this was a great combination for real world driving. Oh yeah, and it still gets great fuel economy.
[Source: London Free Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GreyFlcn 1:01AM (9/23/2007)
When it all comes down to it.
It's all about energy efficiency.
Conventional 20% < Diesel 40% < Hybrid 50% < HCCI 55% < Plugin Hybrid 70% < Electric 90%
Switching fuels is merely for the sake of compatibility with a more efficient engine.
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Tomas S 4:38AM (9/23/2007)
While waiting for the ultimate battery technologies, a plug-in diesel hybrid could be the most effective car today, also giving a fair range.
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rgseidl 10:56AM (9/23/2007)
@ GreyFlcn -
your numbers are way off. Diesels aren't twice as good as gasoline cars. Gasoline hybrids are no better than diesels, except in stop-and-go traffic. HCCI can only be used in part load and does not save nearly as much as you imply. PHEVs and BEVs depend on grid electricity, which has to be produced first (mix average 40-50%). Well-to-wheel, H2ICE concepts are worse than conventional gasoline engines. FCVs come in at numbers comparable to diesels well-to-wheels, but at much higher financial cost.
@ Tomas S -
Opel, Volvo and Citroen all showed diesel PHEV concepts at the IAA in Frankfurt. It's not an option for the US market because the cost of exhaust gas aftertreatment on top of the battery etc. would price the solution out of the market. Fuel simply isn't nearly expensive enough in the US to make the numbers work.
A more viable option - though admittedly very much from left field - would be a PHEV featuring a hermetically sealed free-piston Stirling genset. The linear alternators contained within would operate on the cold side of the working medium, which would be hydrogen. Phase control would be achieved by the power electronics. Response dynamics are poor, but that can be masked by the battery.
Such a machine would feature few moving parts, deliver high thermodynamic efficiency, quiet, produce little or no vibration, require little or no maintenance and could run on basically any fuel (just swap out the external burner).
The downside is that none of the free-piston Stirlings on the market today are designed for the required power range nor for high power density (i.e. they are bulky and heavy). Significant R&D investment would be required to bring such a solution to the automotive market.
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