Naysayers alert: cost of diesel drops below premium gas
At least one barrier to diesel ownership may be falling by the wayside now that the average price for a gallon of diesel fuel has dropped below that of premium gasoline in the United States. According to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. government, the average price of diesel fuel in this country on February 16th was $2.18. By way of comparison, the average gallon of premium gas: $2.19.
Of course, even that isn't an apples-to-apples comparison because a gallon of diesel fuel contains more potential energy than a gallon of gasoline. Add in the fact that internal combustion engines running on diesel fuel are more efficient than their gas-powered counterparts, and diesel starts making even more sense.
Still, it's not all rosy for diesel engines in America. There are many ways to measure emissions, and in some cases, diesels aren't so clean. Specifically, oil-burners exhaust higher levels of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides along with particulate matter (soot) in the form of unburned carbon compounds. All of these issues can be mitigated somewhat, but that costs money. Still, diesel (including biodiesel) is an alternative that is looking more and more practical as time marches on.
[Source: Energy Information Administration via The Car Connection]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt Groom 5:33PM (2/20/2009)
See? I told you so!
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TX CHL Instructor 5:29PM (2/20/2009)
Haven't noticed that locally. Diesel in this area is still priced substantially higher than premium gasoline.
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http://www.chl-tx.com
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slk23 6:28PM (2/20/2009)
This morning I noticed that the gap between diesel and premium had decreased from $0.70 to $0.30 at the station I keep an eye on. IMHO that makes the extra expense of driving a Jetta TDI justifiable when compared to the competent but unexciting Prius.
BoneHeadOtto 10:53PM (2/20/2009)
@slk,
yeah i agree about wanting a TDI more that a prius, but the prius doesnt require premium. So you are really looking at $0.55 difference which equates to over a 25% difference in fuel price. So if price is the factor, the regular gas cars are still winning.
Get a honda fit for far less than a jetta and after fuel cost differences you will have the same fuel costs.
slk23 2:10AM (2/21/2009)
@BoneHeadOtto
Sure, the Prius is cheaper to run. My comment was that the Jetta TDI is much nicer to drive feels more "permium" that a Prius. However, how much am I willing to pay for that? With diesel and gasoline getting closer in price I find it easier to go for the TDI. $200-$300 more a year is not too high a price to pay for a more engaging car. $500-$600 more a year and I have more trouble rationalizing the decision.
why not the LS2LS7? 7:33PM (2/20/2009)
Back up the more efficient statement please. Keeping in mind that Diesel cars usually have far less power than the gas cars you compare them against and that Diesel has 15% more energy per gallon.
Also, the Diesel highlighted here gas is not suitable for recent Diesel vehicles. You need the ultra-low sulfur Diesel listed below which, given the higher energy content, is still a better value than gas.
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Arno 9:11PM (2/20/2009)
I'm starting to feel like a genius with my '09 TDI purchase. :D
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ale 11:13AM (2/21/2009)
Funny, how generally, it used to be more expensive in winter for diesel... so if that was still true, how would the price be goin down, i.e... diesel was too expensive in the first place... Im excited nonetheless, hopefully more will buy a diesel
On the Honda Fit:
If you were getting a car just for the mileage, the Fit would come on top compared to both the Prius or Jetta, mainly because its 6-7,000 cheaper. However, most ppl dont cross shop the Fit w/ the Jetta, but the Jetta Wagon, on the other hand, has its own place, good utility, like a crossover, but real world mileage.. However, if utility is not what your looking for, sad to say, but that's because youre comparing entry-luxury car to Honda, the Fit comes on top, once again though, they're two different class of cars
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Bill 4:23PM (2/21/2009)
At one point last year the largest city in my state had 4 out of 5 fueling stations out of gasoline due to pipeline disruptions.
You can't store gasoline in any significant amounts legally (too explosive), but here in the U.S. you can store a minimum of several hundred gallons of on-road diesel in a "heating oil" tank, even in the most urban cities.
That's the big advantage I see with diesel, and why I'm shopping for a 300D.
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Carney 11:53AM (2/23/2009)
Ethanol and methanol are also far less explosive than gasoline, which is why they're so often used in vehicle racing such as the Indianapolis 500.
Plus with alcohol you avoid the acid rain causing sulfur and the smog causing soot (which causes 40,000 deaths per year) which petro diesel puts out.
Moreover leaks from underground gas station tanks, or spills from tankers, are much less serious with alcohol than with petroleum or its derivatives like gasoline and petro diesel. This is because unlike petroleum etc which remains concentrated, alcohol dissolves readily in water, melting away below toxicity levels into the vast hydrosphere (and only methanol is toxic; ethanol is of course edible, being in every alcoholic drink). Furthermore unlike petroleum etc., alcohol is readily biodegradable, breaking down within days if not hours into safe components.
All this makes it likely that regulators would favor allowing larger storage quantities of alcohol fuel compared to gasoline and perhaps petro diesel as well at fuel stations.
Finally, unlike diesel, an alcohol compatible flex fuel car can make do with gasoline if that's all that's available. Best of both worlds.