Study claims diesel sales to outpace hybrid cars in US

[belindaB]

There is little doubt that increased regulations and increasing fuel costs will drive up the future sales of clean technology vehicles. However, Pike research says that the sales of clean diesels will quickly outstrip the sales of hybrid cars, even in the U.S., and eventually account for 12.4 percent of the planet's light duty vehicle industry. Have you been trying to buy or sell a used or new car? If this could be you, check into the inventory at Courtesy used cars Brooklyn!



Motors are clean



The clean diesel engines are more efficient than ever right now. In the United States, Japan and Europe, efficiency specifications have increased a ton.



Pike research senior analyst Lisa Jerram said:



“Demand for diesel cars is primarily driven by their fuel economy. A diesel vehicle typically gets 20 percent to 40 percent better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline car.”



Move over, hybrids



In the next six years, Pike’s “Clean Diesel Vehicles” report forecasts that the number of clean diesel vehicles sold worldwide in the U.S. will increase to 13.1 million. In 2012, it is already expected to hit 9.1 million clean diesel vehicles. Pike thinks fewer hybrids will sell during that time.



Pike predicts there will be more natural gasoline vehicles that will beat out plug-ins and hybrids. It also believes that hybrid cars still fill a niche and will not go anywhere anytime soon.



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Used in Europe



For a while now, Europe has seen a lot of clean diesel.



According to Jerram:



"[Fuel economy], along with favorable tax treatment for diesel fuel, has made diesel cars tremendously popular in Europe, where they have accounted for around 50 percent of light-duty vehicle sales over the past several years."



Whole world uses it



Pike claims that the highest number of sales will be seen in Eastern Europe, where diesels have traditionally performed the strongest. But it believes the greatest growth will be seen in other markets, like the United States The global rate of sales will increase by about 4.8 percent before 2018, says Pike.



American approval



In the future years, the increasing cost of fuel and increased government pressure will most likely cause more American car buyers to want to buy diesel vehicles, according to Pike.



By 2018, the U.S. will beat Canada with a rise of 22 percent in clean diesel sales to about 1 million units per year if Pike is correct.



Pike Research



Global clean trends are very essential to the people in Boulder, Colorado. That is also the city where Pike Research is located.



Sources



Market Watch

Hybrid Cars

Torque News

[ianjay]

Since most people fuel their own cars, the one thing I learned about diesel is that it smells very bad, clings to your shoes (even if you're careful, the previous driver may not have been).

I did it for six years, including long trips from Toronto to Florida. No matter how clean it may be possible to make it out the tailpipe and how powerful and efficient the engine, people will have to adjust to oily pump nozzles and messy fueling stations. Diesel is going to turn many people off for this reason.

[flmark]

RE: stinky diesel

That only applies if your diesel is dinosaur based. Dr Diesel created a machine to be able to combust lots of different materials. I hear that those who collect up vegetable oil make the air smell like French Fries.

[Bzzzt]

Diesels are a whole nuther set of maintenance headaches now. Just buy a VW, and see how much you learn to hate your dealer.

Most require urea (pee juice) additive, and then there's the catalyst and DPF to worry about. Of course, you need a special oil, be sure to memorize the cryptic Euro spec numbers, and use only the right oil to protect your EGR valve and catalyst. Oh, hope your EGR doesn't go wonky or need cleaning. For a diesel horror story (one under every hood), google Ford 6.0 powerstroke diesel.

The price for all this super diesel cleanliness, is that they now get a bit worse mileage.

Oh, your new VW comes with their super high tech special DC automatic? That's a $700 service that you need to keep on top of, otherwise, new transmission.

Diesel is nice, and it has its place, but for the average normal US auto driver, its hard to beat gasoline.
But, in my crewcab pickup, I prefer the Duramax diesel, pre-emission version.

[Fulgerite]

I think the best diesel engines today are about 20% efficient at converting a gallon of fuel to mechanical energy. The rest of the energy is wasted as heat.

The best efficiency from power plant to your Volts wheels can approach 70% efficiency. 70% efficiency is much better than the diesel engines 20% efficiency.

Also the Volt's motor can run on electricity made from Wind, Solar, Hydro, Bio Diesel, Oil, Natural Gas and even dirty Coal. EV's offer the ultimate flexibility of fuel sources.

[pjwood]

I think the best diesel engines today are about 20% efficient at converting a gallon of fuel to mechanical energy. The rest of the energy is wasted as heat.

The best efficiency from power plant to your Volts wheels can approach 70% efficiency. 70% efficiency is much better than the diesel engines 20% efficiency.

RE: 70/20, Consider that islands like Hawaii and Guam use diesel for their electricity, and pay about 30cents per kwh. They don't have infrastructure for coal/natural gas. I don't know the efficiency relatives in electric fuels, but intuitively would say it may be little better than you suggest.

Diesel for the highway, EV/hybrid for the city. We have a 2.0 TDI, with the fancy $$ DPF (no pee juice needed). 236 lb ft of torque across a broad rpm curve does make these things feel like 6-cyl cars. They are a lot more quiet, and the smell is limited to the gas station. So, I'm not surprised at ~10% market penetration projections. Kudos to VW for doing what the Japanese makers would not.

[ianjay]

For a few years I had local access to biodiesel. Trouble is, just like pure electric vehicles, there was little to no infrastructure to keep using it. Long trips? Forget about keeping the French fry fumes coming out the tail pipe. And unless you're using an older diesel, the veggie oil thing doesn't work with newer injection systems.

Spilled fuel is easy to get on your shoes and diesel, unlike gasoline, doesn't evaporate quickly. You won't be thinking about yummy fries - you'll be wondering how soon you can clean the oily pong off your shoes, hands or whatever else accidentally makes contact.

I think we can file more diesel market share near "clean coal" and "Alberta tar sands (you know, the ones you can see from space)"

[gieso]

It is true that diesels get better fuel economy than gas cars with similar performance. Maybe even better than hybrids. That advantage is currently being minimized because the cost at the pump of diesel is well over that of comparable gasoline. It might be an appropriate comparison if you are just trying to get from a normal 25 MPG car to something on the range of 50+ MPG and don't mind continued use of fossil fuels.

Many on this board use little or no fossil fuels in our Volts and most of us consider something like 55 MPG to be pretty poor. I am currently over 360 MPG over the first 9000 miles of my Volt. I do use electricity, but pay an additional penny per kWh to get wind power, so the only fossil fuels I have used is 25 gallons over the past eight months.

I would like to see any diesel do that.

All that said, if a future Volt had a diesel ICE in it that offered better than 40 MPG when I use that mode, it might be interesting.