VW's new Jetta TDI now eligible for $1,300 federal tax credit
Hybrid owners aren't the only ones eligible for tax breaks. Buyers of Volkswagen's new diesel powered Jettas will be able to recoup $1,300 of the purchase price from our friends at the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service has decreed that the Jetta TDI qualifies for the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit. That means that a diesel Jetta will cost about $700 more than a regular gas Jetta. By now most Volkswagen dealers across North America should have a Jetta TDI demonstrator on the lot. Deliveries to customers should start around the end of August or early September. During the media drive of Mercedes' new Bluetec diesel SUVs recently, company officials expressed hope that those vehicles would also qualify for the tax credit. Thanks to Connor for the tip!
[Source: VWvortex]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mr. E 9:11AM (7/24/2008)
Oh, no, not more diesel hype from Autoblog Green.
Why would a car that is dirtier that a Prius, produces a lot more C02 than a Prius, cost more to buy and fuel, and cant plug-in and run off electricity get a $1300 tax credit? Waste of tax payer money, if you ask me.
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tankd0g 9:29AM (7/24/2008)
It's the softwood lumber lobby trying to get more CO2 int he atmosphere to grow bigger trees.
dr61 11:49AM (7/24/2008)
Because the Jetta TDI produces a LOT less CO2 and uses less oil than almost all other similar sized cars out there?
These tax credits are based on fuel economy, so other car models are eligible IF they can make the grade, but most have not yet done so.
Stockdad 10:23PM (7/26/2008)
Haven't you gas whores heard of biodiesel...
And don't let the petroleum lobby fill your small heads with visions of foodstock shortages....
A biodiesel fueled diesel trumps a gas burning, battery bulging hybrid 10 outta 10.
If you're burning gas, you're filling the pockets of greedy oil companies AND terrorist sponsoring sheiks.
FILL ER UP!
Plug In USA 12:44PM (7/24/2008)
The Jetta TDI would cost about $14 in today's mostly foreign sourced diesel to travel 100 miles.
If it were a real clean car (not green washed diesel), it would run on electricity that only cost $3 to go 100 miles.
Over the year a average driver would save $1650, which is a lot of money to send to the Middle East.
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Bill 11:07PM (7/25/2008)
Looks like you missed the cost of the 20 kWh of battery you'd need to go 100 miles (in a real 4-passenger, 4-wheel car, not a 3-wheeled, 2-seat tricycle)
You'd need a 30 kWh - 40 kWh battery pack to get that 20 kWh of capacity - how much is that gonna cost ya?
Stockdad 11:17AM (7/27/2008)
And how do we generate electricity?!?!?!
Coal fired plants?
Nuke plants?
Dams!?!?!
Do you think the electricity fairy decends from the sky and juices up your toxic batteries?!?!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!
Serge 4:36PM (7/28/2008)
No kidding here, Stockdad. In addition to option #2 and #3, you have:
4) Solar (PV and CSP)
5) Wind
6) Geothermal
Just like the bio-diesel option you seem to favor, options 4 and 5 can be implemented at a household or community level. Imagine that ...
Zigster 9:29AM (7/24/2008)
>Why would a car that is dirtier that a Prius, produces a lot more >C02 than a Prius, cost more to buy and fuel, and cant plug-in >and run off electricity get a $1300 tax credit? Waste of tax payer >money, if you ask me.
there must be some benefit to getting excellent mileage and torque without carrying around a bunch of batteries and an electric motor
this is only fair - they made VW (and Mercedes) jump through a lot of hoops to pass emissions
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wxman 11:18AM (7/24/2008)
The emission issue is a canard. PM emissions have been virtually eliminated.
You may get marginally higher NOx emissions with these T2B5 diesels (although still near zero), but you get lower HC/VOC emissions. HC emissions are the cause of high ozone levels in urban areas, not NOx.
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LaughingMan 11:38AM (7/24/2008)
So Hydrocarbons emissions cause high ozone levels? What about smog? Hydrocarbons cause those too?
NOx is a principle smog forming pollutant. On NOx emissions, even the latest generation "clean" diesels are vastly more dirtier than ULEV II or SULEV II rated gasoline burning vehicles.
wxman 1:46PM (7/24/2008)
In most areas that have a "smog" issue, yes, hydrocarbons are the cause, NOT NOx. NOx actually destroys ozone (which is the principle component of smog) in the "VOC-limited" regimes (all urban locations studied so far are VOC-limited), so lowering ambient NOx levels relatively more than ambient HC levels actually results in higher ozone levels (i.e., more smog).
In very simple terms, NOx "makes" ozone, HC (and CO) allow it to accumulate in the atmosphere.
dr61 12:09PM (7/24/2008)
VW Jetta TDI IS ULEV LEVEL II certified for California:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/cert/pcldtmdv/2009/volkswagen_pc_a0070279_2d0_u2_diesel.pdf
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yabun 12:55PM (7/24/2008)
The battle here isn't between Prius and TDI Jetta. They are both great cars and should be praised on their specs. But people, especially Americans, need choices. Great for VW. Better mileage is less CO2 and that is the global problem. And if people have a source of biodiesel, they can use it. You can debate the pros and cons of biofuels all day, but it's nice to have that option if you can produce it from waste veggie oil.
Attention should really be on 18-wheelers, though. That's the REAL problem. Whether a Jetta meets NOx standards is soooo trivial compared to the vehicle miles and pollutants put out by 18-wheelers.
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Brian 8:05PM (7/24/2008)
A gallon of Diesel produces 15% more CO2 so the TDIs 33 MPG EPA combined is more like 28 MPG for a gas car.
There are a lot of gas cars that get better than 28 MPG, but they don’t get tax breaks.
The TDI produces 5X more NOx than a Prius.
Do say that it takes less energy to refine today’s low sulfur diesel because it costs the refinery about double to produce diesel than gas. The rest is tax, marketing, distribution.
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Sam Abuelsamid 1:16PM (7/24/2008)
Unfortunately you make the common mistake of haters when talking about diesel. Yes diesel fuel contains 15 percent more carbon per gallon than gasoline and hence burning 1 gallon of diesel means 15 percent more CO2 than 1 gallon of gas. What you conveniently ignore is the fact that the diesel cycle is more efficient than the Otto cycle used by gasoline engines. As a result a comparably powerful diesel engine uses about 30 percent fewer gallons than a good gasoline engine. 15 percent of that 30 percent is 4.5 percent. Thus a diesel engine consumes 30 percent less fuel on a volumetric basis and produces about 25 percent less CO2!
Sam Abuelsamid 1:19PM (7/24/2008)
Also it takes about the same amount of crude to produce a gallon of diesel and a gallon of gas. That means every gallon of consumption reduced by driving a diesel is a gallon of imported crude reduced.
TILT 12:25PM (8/18/2008)
Sam Abuelsamid, you make the common mistake of sighting the fact that the diesel cycle is more efficient, yet fail to realize that the Jetta TDI only gets 33 MPG Diesel EPA. Even if in the real world you could hyper mile it to 40 MPG, that is still piss poor for diesel.
I suspect that the TDI is overweight, and suffers from a fat cross-section and bad aerodynamics.
I fail to see how Diesel takes less energy to refine because the refineries are pending so much more money on making it. Money = Energy just like time= money.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
I calculate that it costs 41 % more to refine diesel.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
I calculate that it costs 41 % more to refine diesel.
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dr61 8:27PM (7/24/2008)
2008 cars better than 34 mpg combined: Prius, Civic H., Smart.
2008 cars better than 41 mpg highway: Prius, Civic H., Smart.
Looks like the 30/34/41 mpg VW Jetta manual does well in this company. VW Jetta Sportwagen is the only station wagon offered in this group. It weighs 3230 lb., about normal these days for this size of car, and has top rated crash performance.
wxman 9:38AM (7/25/2008)
If you click on the "gas pump" icon in the right margin of your link, it says "Refining Costs & Profits" under "Methodology For Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Pump Components", so we don't know how much is refining costs and how much is profit.
By all accounts, diesel fuel not only costs less to refine ( http://www.leftlanenews.com/mercedes-exec-says-big-oil-conspiring-to-kill-us-diesel-market.html#more-7725 , http://www.nefi.com/oilandenergy/QandA_Jan08.html ), it requires considerable less energy to produce (less than half as much energy per BTU of product per UC-Davis - http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/publications/2003/UCD-ITS-RR-03-17-MAIN.pdf ).