New Cleaner Diesel Fuel; A Challenge for Hybrids

October 8, 2006 – Vol.11 No.29

NEW CLEANER DIESEL FUEL; A CHALLENGE FOR HYBRIDS?

Remember October 15, 2006 as the day the air in the US began to get significantly cleaner. Remember it too as the day seeds were planted for more options for high fuel economy vehicles that could be sold in the US.

October 15, 2006 was the day that ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel was first made available at US pumps. With the first tankful, soot emissions from any diesel vehicle will drop by 10 percent. But that’s just a start. The new fuel will allow vehicle manufacturers to begin selling the next generation of clean diesel engines that promise noxious emission reductions of up to 95 percent. Some of those new engines will be available beginning in January 2007. The new clean diesel engine designs need the ultra-low sulfur fuel to operate.

According to a joint statement from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Diesel Technology Forum, a new diesel truck will emit one sixtieth of the soot as one produced in 1988. Owners of existing diesel vehicles, as well, will have the option to install new emission controls that can reduce emissions by more than 90 percent.

While trucks, buses, heavy equipment and a scattering of diesel cars will be the first to clean up their act, the new fuel will allow auto manufacturers to begin offering clean diesels in the US market - if they choose to do so.

Already Volkswagen, which has dropped its diesel engines in the US for the 2007 model year, will pick them up again in 2008 with the introduction of a new engine that will meet emission regulations in all fifty states.

By 2008 DaimlerChrysler, as well, will have its BLUETEC diesel technology for Mercedes-Benz cars nationwide.

(Tighter emission standards in California, Massachusetts, Maine, New York and Vermont keep new diesel powered cars off the market there.)

And Honda has said it will have a diesel passenger car engine available in a few years that will meet California (and those other four states’) emissions standards.

The new fuel, with subsequent clean diesel engines, leaves open the possibility that more diesel engine cars will enter the US market.

Consider this. Many vehicles that are sold in the US - foreign or domestic built - that are available in foreign markets, are also available in those markets with a diesel. Chrysler Voyager minivans are sold in Europe with a diesel under the hood. The Hyundai Santa Fe is sold outside the US with a diesel. The new generation Ford Focus (which Ford won’t allow Americans to have) is available elsewhere with a diesel. Volvo diesels overseas. Yup. Mini Cooper diesels? For sure.

The list goes on.

The new diesel fuel would allow vehicle developers - if they wanted to - to sell highly efficient diesel powered cars in the US that would meet emission standards throughout the land. Diesels are 20 - 40 percent more efficient than gasoline engines, about the same as gasoline-fueled hybrids.

(As a reminder, if more diesel vehicles were available to consumers, more consumers might be willing to fuel their cars with biodiesel for near total fossil fuel energy independence.)

But what happens to hybrids if a wealth of new clean diesel cars hit the streets in the US market in coming years? Hybrids will evolve into plug-in hybrids for extreme fuel savings that diesels couldn’t match. (A plug-in DIESEL hybrid would be very expensive.)

Already that evolution seems to be underway. The next generation Prius, due out in 2008 or 2009, is rumored to travel farther at higher speeds on electric power alone than the current car. Ninety miles per gallon is also rumored, which must mean plug-in capability. The car, too, is said to carry a less than $2000 price premium for its hybrid status, about the same premium as a diesel car.

If auto makers check the pulse of the market by asking dealers what they think will sell, (one would think they would) at least one automobile retailer thinks that customers would buy plug-in hybrids.)

AutoNation, the largest automotive retailer in the US has joined the Plug-in Partners campaign that is urging automakers to build plug-in hybrids. CEO Mike Jackson said, “We believe Americans will buy these vehicles, which is why we want to sell them.”

AutoNation has 333 new vehicle franchises in 16 states employing 27,000.

(Austin, Texas with Austin Energy, founded Plug-in Partners in January 2006. Since then nearly 60 cities have signed up as well as dozens of organizations and utility companies.)

Finally, America appears ready for any alternative to gasoline. A new survey from the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) in Morgantown, West Virginia, revealed that 90 percent of Americans agree that developing alternative fuels is very important, and 55 percent said they would consider an alternative fuel/advanced technology vehicle the next time they shop for a new car or truck. ‘

While diesel fuel isn’t really an alternative fuel, it would be an alternative choice for most car and light truck buyers. The cleaner fuel will make that choice more appealing.

Visit AutoNation at http://corp.autonation.com/ or http://www.AutoNation.com/ Plug-in Partners at http://www.pluginpartners.org the NRDC at http://www.nrdc.org and the Diesel Technology Forum at http://www.dieselforum.com/ the NAFTC at http://naftp.nrcce.wvu.edu/ and check out the variety of diesel models available over there but not here at http://www.verdictoncars.com/