Diesel truck verses Gas truck comparison

So I wanted to do a comparison for you on a gas truck vs. a diesel truck but these guys beat me too it. Of course the numbers are much smaller when talking about a truck because they are not used for commuting they are used for work. Towing, hauling and anything else you throw at them trucks will do it for you. The comparison below was taking off a website I found when I was working on my previous piece and I found the information very pleasing and wanted to share it.

Assuming the pump price of gas and diesel were the same, a diesel could save you $1500 or more in fuel costs per 100,000 miles of light duty driving and/or up to $2500 or more when doing a lot of towing or other high power demand driving, when compared to a gasoline powered truck with identical gearing. (These costs comparisons represent the estimated differences in fuel economy between a Duramax 6600 and a 6.0L fuel injected gasoline engine. When compared to a gasoline 8.1L, the diesel will save you even more.)Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Diesel Page

We all know that the price of diesel and the price of gas are not the same but this comparison still makes my point. A identical vehicle with a diesel option has better fuel economy that the gas option as well as the laundry list of other advantages. More power from the factory and a all around tougher truck.

Works cited:

"Diesel Economics & Fuel Economy." thedieselpage.com. 14 June 2008. Diesel . 24 Nov 2008 .

Gas cost per mile verses Diesel cost per mile

So I think it is time to change all your minds about diesel and that huge number that you see by the price of diesel. I have called a local gas station that offered regular gas, diesel and biodiesel. The prices are as follows regular gas $1.79 per gallon, diesel $2.68 per gallon, and biodiesel $2.78 per gallon. These prices were provided by Woodfin Watchard at 4511 Pouncy Tract Road Richmond, VA.

Now were looking at almost a whole dollar more price per gallon gas vs. diesel and an additional 10 cents for the biodiesel. But when I crunched some numbers I was pleased to find that even though you pay more at the pump for diesel you save money in the long run. I did my comparison strictly off the price of fuel and did not add in maintenance costs.

I used a single car for my comparison and got the base miles per gallon from fueleconemy.gov. The car I chose to do my comparison on was a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta the gas model was a 2.0L 4 cylinder automatic and the diesel was a 1.9L 4 cylinder automatic. The gas model had a fuel economy of 28 MPG. The diesel model had a fuel economy of 38 MPG. Both of these MPG ratings are for stock vehicles rite off the showroom floor with no performance upgrades.

Here's my formula I took the cost of gas and divided it by the miles per gallon to get the price per mile we drive. Then I took that number and multiplied it by 10,000 miles which is what USAA insurance company considers a year of regular driving.

Number don't lie...

$1.79 / 28 MPG = $.1564 cents a mile multiplied by 10000 = $15,640.00 per year for the Gas
$2.68 / 38 MPG = $.1417 cents a mile multiplied by 10000 = $14,170.00 per year for the Diesel

Then you subtract the Gas year total by the Diesel year total to get the difference of $1,470.00 savings in the first 10,000 miles driven with the diesel. I don't know about you but that is a lot of money to me and numbers don't lie. Look at the numbers, use my equation and do some research for yourself. You may want to think diesel the next time you purchase a vehicle.

Biodiesel Engine conversion do you need it???

The answer to that question is NO! I have done extensive research and there are several costly products out there that add all these fancy gizmo's to your car to make it safe to run biodiesel (Melendez). As with any performance upgrade or anything that goes on with your vehicle check with your mechanic before you do anything. They know your vehicle. There is one thing that needs to be taken away from this post. Whether you run gasoline, diesel, or biodiesel you cannot fail to do your vehicles preventative maintenance. When you use biodiesel there is the risk that deposits can build up in your engines fuel system. But if you buy biodiesel that is manufactured from a company it was done correctly and has been cleared by the EPA for use in vehicles in the US.

If you are making your own biodiesel you have to make sure that you are making it correctly. Biodiesel is not just simply cleaned and filtered used oil. It is actually super clean oil and a few additives that combine to make the fuel ready for use in vehicles. When you purchase a biodiesel kit like the one I previewed in my previous post it comes with complete instructions. I do not have a biodiesel kit so cannot claim to know everything about biodiesel. Below are a few very helpful sites I found that can help you if you are ready to help the environment and go green.

If you still are interested in doing a biodiesel conversion or putting a biodiesel engine check out these the sites below I am just noting a few and you will have to do extensive research to see which of these is rite for your vehicle. I have searched for VW because our favorite teacher drives a TDI jetta. You can convert your TDI for $775.00 plus the cost of the installation.

Works cited:
Melendez, John. "The Scam on Biodiesel Engine Conversions." Associated Content. 13 FEB 2008. biomedical and environmental . 20 Nov 2008 .

Biodiesel

Ok guys I am going to start if a brief introduction to biodiesel. What is biodiesel? Biodiesel is an alternate fuel composed of used cooking oil that has been filtered several times. Only vehicles that have had biodiesel conversions or have special biodiesel engines can run on biodiesel. You can purchase a pre made biodiesel engine that will be a direct replacement for your stock engine. Your second option is buying a conversion kit that comes with complete directions. After you install one of these two options you can run biodiesel.

People often call biodiesel vehicles greasers because of the fuel is made from cooking oil, grease, lard, ect. Most restaurants will give you as much cooking oil as you want because they have to pay to have it disposed of. I know when I worked in the food service industry we had a 55 gallon barrel that got about 10 to 20 gallons added a week. If you could find a few restaurants that would let you have there used oil you could run your vehicle solely off biodiesel.

A good point that I want to make is this. If your running on biodiesel and are running low on fuel you can put regular diesel fuel in your car. It actually is good for your vehicle because it helps to clean out your fuel tank.

What you need to convert your diesel to biodiesel is a conversion kit you can buy these at several places off the Internet the one that I am using is Freedom Fueler Biodiesel Processor. It costs around $2800.00. Which is a one time cost. After you buy this processor all you have to replace is a few filters for maintenance. This kit can process 160 gallons of biodiesel at a time. Now it is kind of large so you would need somewhere to store it. See the picture below.

In my next post I will discuss costs and the process of converting your diesel engine to burn biodiesel. Check back soon...

My favorite Blog

Ok guys so it was super hard to find someone who shared my interests in Diesel vehicles. But I found these guys and they are awesome. Autoblog.com is a huge wesite dedicated to bloging on the automotive industry and they have tones of information on the entire industry. Whatever questions you have about any type of vehicle you can find something on this site. This site has thousands of followers.

I searched for diesel and found several different blogs. I mean everything you could possibly think of. I was looking for the new Ford F150 Diesel and boy did I find it. I am very interested in the new 4.4L Ford diesel engine for the F150 because I have a 2007 gas F150 and would love to do a diesel conversion. This is my favorite blog that I found on this site so far. When you check it out you can tell why I'm so excited about the 4.4L diesel and what the good news was given inside this blog.

Alright so if you didn't figure out why I'm so excited about this blog. Its simply because they said the new diesel F150 engine will be coming out next year, it has better fuel economy than the 5.4L gas engine and on top of that it has tones more power. That's what I'm talking about I cant wait to drop one in my pickup.

One of the cool things about this website is that it is updated daily. Some of these posts literally happen as soon as an event is over. This is so vital to people like myself who cannot go to a lot of these shows in Europe. I'm not sure if many of us will but it is awesome to get the info from a reliable source in a timely manor. Check back soon for more great diesel info.

Hybrid sales verses Diesel sales in the US

So I commute from Richmond, VA to Ft. Belvoir, VA on a daily basis. I have made it a point to look at the cars around me just to see what types of vehicles are out there. Of course I see more gas burning cars than anything else but I have seen an ever growing amount of hybrids and diesel vehicles.

I was very curious to actually see which type of clean burning or high efficiency vehicle was outselling the other and was very pleased when I saw that diesel vehicles are actually higher than hybrid vehicle sales. Quoted below from Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA)

"It is absolutely appropriate to name 2008 the year of breakthrough for clean diesel in the United States. Beware and do not misinterpret the market share of only 3 percent, which is indeed still low. It is just an indication of the calm before the storm and is driven primarily by model cycles. According to J.D. Power projections, the percentage of diesel vehicles in the total number of new vehicle registrations in the U.S. will multiply to 15 percent by 2015 - and the German brands will land in the top rankings." Last year, diesel cars still outperformed hybrid models in light vehicle sales at the rate of 480,000 versus 350,000 units.

Check back soon for more diesel facts and statistics. Coming soon the number one best selling diesel vehicle in the US.

Efficiency explained and intro to diesel miles per gallon

The big question today with the on going fuel crisis is how to get better fuel economy. Well to truly understand why a diesel engine is better, your going to have to know how it works mechanically.

Most people know how a gas job works, by gas job I mean a gasoline engine. A gas engine has a fuel rail that distributes fuel to the firing chamber and a spark plug ignites the fuel, but the more you push the pedal, the more fuel is put into the engine and the injectors speed up and put more fuel into the engine. When the throttle plate is wide open the right chemical reaction takes place.

Now on to more important things, a diesel engine fuel system is almost like a gasoline engine, but there is no restriction of air. The whole concept of the engine is to force as much air as possible into the engine. The fuel is put in to the firing chamber at a very high pressure most commonly around 35,000pis; when the air and fuel come together it ignites on contact. There are no spark plugs needed, which results in a smaller amout of fuel needed to operate.

To conclude this post, the average diesel veichle gets 50 mpg and the average gasoline vehicle gets 30 mph. The most important thing to know when it comes to diesel miles per gallon and fuel economy is that the more performance upgrades you add to your vehicle the better fuel economy you get. Check back soon for more info on diesel performance and comparisons.