GVA-SFO

Diesel, some numbers :

In France, after 30 years of “love story” with Diesel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo just announced that she wants to make Paris a Diesel-free city by 2020. The first step, she said Wednesday, will be to ban the “most polluting” Diesel delivery trucks and buses by July 2015.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) reported that Paris had an average of 147 microgrammes of particulate matter (PM) per cubic metre of air - compared with 114 in Brussels, 104 in Amsterdam, 81 in Berlin and 79.7 in London.

Some other numbers:
Since a recent decrease, the Diesel still remain the favorite fuel of the French, i.e.: more than 63% of the market in 2014. In Europe, it is also true, with 53.8% !
According to J.D. Power, in the USA, it should represent about 7% in 2017, while it is around 3% today.

fincher

Good post. All diesels vehicles (not sure about trucks), require urea (AdBlue). With urea, diesels burn cleaner than gasoline vehicles.

GVA-SFO

To my knowledge, "Adblue" do not remove "fine particles" (that could trigger cancers), but help to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxide), right ?
I understand that the fine particles are trapped in modern Diesel engines by DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter).
So, the latest Diesel engines should be equipped with both !
A question could be : How many of the current cars/trucks in use are compliant with DPF AND BlueTech ?

fincher

You are correct. The DPF traps the fine particles. The modern diesel has both urea and a DPF. I think newer diesels in the U.S. must have both (not sure about trucks).

cwazyeurodrivr

The problem with Diesel fuel in USA, is that when Bush Sr was in office , he put on a "Diesel highway" tax that varies from county to county, station to station depending on how much fuel is sold. Then a min of .92cents/gallon to reduce emissions and attempt to get the trucking industry to drive less, before DEF systems were invented. Now that DEF systems are here, and they are 30-40% less hazardous than gas systems to the air we breathe. DC hasn't changed the Diesel highway tax accordingly.

Go after your state reps to go tell DC to change it. Then Diesel will be a no brainier for the states. Consumers shouldn't be paying for the trucking industries vehicles that are getting 5-10mpg, when there are diesel cars & SUVs getting 26-60 mpg. Blame your politicians and DC for the price differences and taxes on diesel.

All in all you have 4cyl economy, with V8 power... plain and simple. ( it can be " sporty" but you do have to push it hard to get " sporty" and keep the revs up)

cwazyeurodrivr

let me also add that BMWs X5dM with it's tri-turbo diesel in Germany is a rocket, they also have 5dM and 7dM and they move very very nicely. The 2nd problem with the States is all the regulations on diesel engines , anywhere else in the world they run twice the power. But because of our LOVELY people in DC they need to make things 10X more difficult than they need to be, restrict everything and charge a " tax" or " certification" for everything so they can feel, show and have job security.

I've also had a 35d here in the states for 2 1/2 months, it moved OK 0-80, after that you had to stay on it hard to keep up the pace. BMW took it back form me after 4 ECU failures, once lost the brakes, and twice it died on the highway while doing 75mph, and had to be towed to the dealer.

So I told them either take it back or I was going to hang lemons on it, paint lemons on it ( it was white with black leather) , and keep copies of all the service repairs to show people as I drove around New England stopping at every dealership there was. Needless to say they took it back from me when the BMW factory rep saw the yellow, black, green paint and cut out stencils of lemons & leaves and left it in the passenger seat for them to see I wasn't screwing around.

JSF101

starting in 2012 all new vehicles, including trucks required DPF and DEF

skiahh

You know, I've heard about this huge diesel tax time and time again, but can never find out where it is imposed. Current fuel taxes, courtesy of the API:




And from the Energy Information Agency, federal excise taxes on gasoline are 18.4 cents and on diesel 24.4 cents.

So where this .92 per gallon comes from is mostly urban myth, I believe. Bush Sr. did raise the gas tax by 5 cents/gallon and then Clinton by 4.3 cents/gallon to the levels we have today.

If you know something else I'm missing, please elaborate.

cwazyeurodrivr

During my conversation about which vehicle I should purchase for my insane amount of driving I do. My CPA did the calculations based on his clients gas station fees and taxes they pay. Those numbers listed above are not fixed, the vary daily depending on sales, season and demand per state & per county. He showed me numbers of the same brand fuel Portsmouth, NH vs Nashua,NH vs Manchester, NH. it was anywhere between .12 and .45 cent difference daily between 5 different gas stations.

If you take the state avg then add in delivery fees, pump fee, state station convenience fee, it adds up to .92. He said for as much driving as I do I would lose money weekly and pay more for diesel than gas, and because I wasn't a " commercial " driver I couldn't write off the added diesel expense. So I bought another gas engine and write off the IRS amount minus my $750/mth car allowance, and still make out enough to cover the insurance on the vehicle.

skiahh

I'd get another CPA.

fincher

Ditto. Over-analysis.

cwazyeurodrivr

Disagreed based on my daily and weekly required driving it was warranted.

Many people probably don't come close to a 1/3 of the miles I do yearly or have done in the past. So for me it works out. For many others probably not. Everyone is different. My CPA ( former IRS auditor/agent) has gone up against the IRS during audits and shown the auditors tax laws the auditor didn't look for or know about , and walked away free and clear or them sending me an additional refund.

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Buckfever

I have to say that the logic here is spurious. If there is an economic justification of diesel over gas it is where it is the case that there is high mileage. Anyway the total cost of ownership of diesel versus gas is much more complex than the tax disparity between diesel and gas.

skiahh

Spurious? You're being very generous.

I'd say flawed. Faulty. Loco!

You are correct that in high mileage scenarios diesel really shines.

perlfather

I think one of the key advantages of the TDI engine is comparable acceleration (0.1s difference between the gas and diesel engines in an Audi A6) with a much greater range - far fewer stops at gas stations.