What is diesel technology: Can tech conquer everything but the smell at the pump? - ExtremeTech
They travel as much 800 miles between fill-ups, which is good, because one problem lingers: the whiff of kerosene that likewise lingers on your hands after time you fill up. A bit less than one in 100 passenger cars and SUVs sold today is a diesel. Add in pickup trucks, where the take rate is better than 10 in 100, and you have 3% market share for diesels. Small as it is, the number represents growth — roughly equal to the sales rate for hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles, as long as you include diesel pickups. Here’s what diesel technology does and why many people feel diesel is better. Despite the fuel seeming less refined or less sophisticated than gasoline, diesel packs about 10% more BTUs per gallon than gasoline. The ruggedly built diesel engine compresses air to one-twentieth its original volume, then a trace of diesel fuel is injected into the cylinder and it spontaneously combusts without the need for a spark plug. The gasoline engine, in comparison, compresses a mixture of fuel and air to about one-tenth its original volume and then a spark plug ignites it. A diesel-engine vehicle typically costs $1,000-$2,500 more for a car or SUV than a comparable... For pickups, the cost can be $5,000 more for diesel engines designed to last hundreds of thousands of miles. Source: www.extremetech.com
