How come this hasn't been done yet? I'm under the impression that diesels are better for highway and hybrids better for city. Why not combine the technologies? Emissions?

9/12/2005 3:40:49 PM

americans dont like diesels

9/12/2005 3:44:35 PM

p0wR maybe? smaller diesels (very high mpg) don't put out much. nor do electric motors. we americans love unusable power, which is why you can get 260+ hp family sedans. but the fun comes at a price at the fuel pumps.

9/12/2005 3:54:26 PM

i would think it would work well, b/c diesel thermodynamic efficiency suffers a lot from being throttled, but they're great when you hammer on them. with a hybrid, you don't engage the engine unless you need most of its power anyway.

my guess is that gasoline hybrids get enough better mileage than non-hybrids that they aren't taking the next step yet, b/c they don't need to (especially considering that hybrids are more expensive than non-hybrids, and a diesel hybrid would likely cost even more).

but yeah, i bet it would get crazy mpg.

9/12/2005 4:00:47 PM

maybe its b/c diesels already get good gas mileage... and the idea with them isnt power, its torque. torque down low, redline at 4k. the opposite of honda: nothing down low, power at 9k

im still wary on the hybrid idea...

9/12/2005 4:17:59 PM

alot of the originals were.

alot of americans are stupid and would probably put gas in their diesel car.

9/12/2005 4:18:12 PM

lol...

i thought the nozzle wouldnt fit... or does it not fit the other way?

9/12/2005 4:18:52 PM

umm last time i checked they were the same.... but that was a while ago

" i thought cars ran on gas and big trucks ran on diesel "

9/12/2005 4:20:30 PM

diesel nozzle doesn't even come close to fitting. It's the same size as the old regular leaded gas nozzles.

Now truck diesel nozzles wouldn't fit at all. Like John Holmes trying to assfuck a 15 yr old chinese girl.

Duke...diesels have no throttle at all and hence no intake restrictions at lower rpm's. They run with a continual excess of air (unless the pump rack is really far advanced on jerk pump engines or pulse duration is really great on HEUI engines), and therefore burn cleanly at lower fuel delivery.

I don't know if pumping losses would be higher, lower, or what with a diesel, as there is no throttle plate, but the maximum amount of air is always being moved and compressed...whereas on a gas engine, it's not.

Diesel fuel does have a bit more thermal energy available during combustion, though. It'd be interesting to have a high-temp fuel preheater on a gasoline engine and employ switchable fuel supplies...start 'er on gas, switch to preheated diesel fuel. I wonder how that would affect economy. Preheating the fuel would be necessary because of its much lower volatility.

9/12/2005 4:29:01 PM

Quote :

"Like John Holmes trying to assfuck a 15 yr old chinese girl."

lol. your comparisons are always so vivid..

9/12/2005 4:36:23 PM

When I was younger, it was all about the shock value.

Guess I haven't shaken that yet.

9/12/2005 4:42:51 PM

Quote :

"When I was younger, it was all about the shock value."

9/12/2005 5:12:33 PM

Quote :

"Duke...diesels have no throttle at all"

yeah, throttle was a poor choice of words.

diesels are, however, more efficient when operating near max capacity. otto cycle gas engines work better when oversized for the application and then operated gently. this, it seems to me, would make diesels great for hybrid application.

9/12/2005 5:16:05 PM

some diesel nozzles are the same size as gas. most are larger.

9/12/2005 5:29:44 PM

Diesel-electric "hybrids"

Not so hybrid... but a diesel producing electricity

9/12/2005 6:58:47 PM

^ needs some bling bling on that dump truck

9/12/2005 7:17:33 PM

Some spinners yo

9/12/2005 7:28:17 PM

9/12/2005 7:46:45 PM

there are small nozzles on the diesel pumps. I have to use them because the fuel foams too much with the big nozzles and it takes forever to fill up.

9/12/2005 7:47:08 PM

VW has a 118 mpg diesel hybrid.

The reason America hasn't seen many efficient diesels and/or diesel hybrid is that new low-sulfur diesel fuels aren't widely available in the US.

9/12/2005 9:13:44 PM

^ your talking about the VW 3L, there was a post about that like last week about it. 3L of fuel for 100km, but its slow as shit and crude as hell. it will never make it to the US. if it does, only the rich would prolly snatch it because its "cute" or wanna be environmental friendly like those prius celebraties (I think cameron diez(sp?) drives one)

9/12/2005 9:21:54 PM

what are tree huggers gonna do when their hybrids are ready for the junkyard and they learn how much of a problem that is

9/12/2005 9:36:46 PM

True tree huggers walk or ride a bike.

9/12/2005 9:39:10 PM

^ don't think there is that many in the US

9/12/2005 10:00:02 PM

jon, batteries will be recycled just like they always have

9/12/2005 10:01:34 PM

even with the recycling that is done batteries still pose a huge problem

but i know you knew that

9/12/2005 10:08:59 PM

it's because the Japanese aren't good at diesels, yet. They recently traded tech with some american company, so we might see more on this front.

9/13/2005 2:16:27 AM

the 3L is a lupo. and, yes, its crude and small. i think a big reason it went into production is just so they could say that they finally passed the 3L/100km point.

9/13/2005 2:33:37 AM

^^ Toyota and nissan have had numerous diesel engines in the past that were pretty reliable. They might not be up to the current high pressure direct injection level, but they know diesels.

9/13/2005 6:48:50 AM

Shit, Japan has produced some of the most reliable diesels in the world. Nissan actually produces quite a few direct injection engines...you can find them in UD trucks, which are, in fact, Nissan Diesel with a different name here.

Isuzu is mostly known for their truck and industrial diesels (and yes, marine as well); they were Isuzu Diesel before anything else.

The Japanese have the diesel down pat, probably more so than most US manufacturers.

9/13/2005 12:31:26 PM

i would guess that the super low end torque of an electric motor would better compliment the higher power band of a small regular gas motor. a diesel + electric would be ultra torque nothing up top and maybe thats too unbalanced. dunno, i guess it could be fixed in gearing.

9/13/2005 3:14:44 PM