Fool For A Diesel?

[TDRadmin]

Have you heard the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Can that adage be used to describe happenings in today’s world of diesel-powered vehicles?

My opinion? Without a doubt. We talked about the problems that diesel-powered vehicles were facing in the article, "The Diesel's Demise" in Issue 97 (August 2017, pages 50-54).

The “fool me once, shame on you” parallel was the late 70’s promise of diesel that was spoiled by General Motors inferior products. Obviously, the “fool me twice, shame on me” parallel ties to our belief in a diesel renaissance that was spoiled by the shenanigans at Volkswagen.

I don’t believe society is going to give us a third chance. With advances in gasoline-powered vehicles (notice all of the small displacement, turbocharged engines in the last five years) in concert with electric power (my favorite rental car of late, a Ford Fusion hybrid), you are an outcast at the dinner party if you tell the crowd about your newfangled, diesel-powered truck or car.

Always on the lookout for data to support my point of view, I submit to you this Automotive News report, “Fiat Chrysler to Ditch Diesel by 2022, report says.”

The headline is a bit misleading. The discussion is focused on diesel passenger cars in Europe. But, it does mention the 2014-2017 EcoDiesel (that was/is used in the Ram 1500 and Jeep Cherokee in the US market place). No news about the Cummins HD trucks. In this case, no news is good news.

 

[HHhuntitall]

First off, I've got to chuckle...... what part of misleading did you understate? That's a given in today's political climate, and the lopsided media bias against anything conservative, responsible, or mildly sensible.... Including diesels. It's funny what most people take for granted. Those small cars they* love and hail so proudly were hauled here by a diesel powered train, unloaded by a diesel powered forklift, and then hauled to the stealerships on board diesel powered trucks, which had to fight traffic caused by their* numerous small cars and their* unpolite and irresponsible driving while texting and drinking their* latte's (speaking of the phone, the raw materials were mined and recycled using heavy equipment, and the coffee beans and sugar were harvested using heavy diesel equipment, processed using electricity from heavy industry, and then were hauled to the Apple/Samsung/Microsoft store and StarSmucks via a large diesel truck). Irony has a heavy, oily smell to it this morning, with a low sulfur content and poor cetane quality.

Politics somewhat aside, I'm curious what's the real driving force behind the diesel bias in this country. It seems diesels over 100hp are usually demonized in the media and by most people not familiar with them. (Of course, the jackasses that add "smoke" switches to their trucks and deliberately black out intersections don't help the situation.) It seems to me the hatred started mid '90s. Gale Banks did a real number to the industry in the mid '90s, when he started making suggestions to the CARB.... I'm often curious if that was intentional so he could forward his own agenda for profit. If that is true, and I can't say it is, I've got to say it has backfired on him horribly, costing us all, as a nation, dearly. And perhaps it's unfair to point fingers at any one person. But some of the worst things in history have been done with the best intentions. Anyway, at this point we have to get political, as it seems the CARB somehow got the idea to set an unreal timetable for an impossible mission. The massive reduction of carbon and NOx emissions. While I can't say it is a horrible idea, and I personally believe we should be responsible to ourselves, each other, and the one single planet we have to live on, the way it's been implemented has been a disaster on many levels: mechanically, socially, monetarily. The EPA took the "suggestions" and ran with them like a pack of dogs on a one-legged cat. Finally!! Something they can regulate out of existence to justify their existence!!

But it's not been so easy.... it seems shutting down a nation is not an easy task. Especially with those annoying personal rights of the people. How are they shutting down a nation, you ask? Everything, and I mean everything processed in this country is affected in some way by diesel. Either by a piece of heavy equipment in the mining/fabrication process or by a truck delivering it to it's final destination, everything in this nation is affected by diesel. Bread, fruit, nuts, and dairy products, for example. All are dependent on diesel. The agricultural industry is almost exclusively powered by diesel. Tractors, combines, trucks and generators all depend on it to plant and harvest the crops used to make bread and feed for dairy cattle. Manufacturing depends on it for raw materials and transport of goods. Even those small, fuel efficient cars they* love so much depend on diesel fuel to deliver more fuel and parts.

The real question we need to find an answer to, is how do we educate a nation? While I certainly think we should (and have a responsibility to) find ways to make our diesels more fuel efficient, at what cost are we going to allow it to take? Whatever we've been doing certainly isn't working... today's trucks are only now reaching fuel efficiency we had in 1989, at a sacrifice of reliability and a dependence on technical assistance. And again, at what cost? We've been cutting our emmissions of "greenhouse" gasses for over 40 years, with little headway. Funny, though. I read an article a few months ago about a volcano eruption. In 3 minutes, that volcano emitted enough "greenhouse" gasses to equal what we've reduced in North America since we started.... and continued to do so for several months. But I still woke up this morning and went to feed my cows.

 

[DieselLady]

https://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/casesett.htm
Just a little light reading on why CARB is such a danger. CARB only has to answer to one person, the Governor of Calif. And as long as CARB keeps suing people for High VOCs in windshield washer fluid, Well it will kill the Diesel Industry. This industry has just provided a huge source of income for Calif in the form of Lawsuits. Most are settled out of court. As we all know CARB writes the rules and then sues people for violating them. For example going after Hienz Corp in Chicago for selling a household cleaner that is Vinegar based, and Hienz settles out of court for $700,000.00 This is insane, but as long as Calif is allowed to have tighter regulations then the other 49 states, we will all have to worry about the finish on our table top being CARB approved.
Sorry for the political rant, but it all comes back to CARB. New trucks are really very clean now as far as soot goes. With Common Rail fuel injection under very high pressure we really don't blow black smoke like before. And the Volcano rant is true. ") But it isn't about clean any more. It's about money and power. Take a minute and read some of the lawsuit settlements in the link above. And on the left hand column click on 2017, 2016 etc etc. And scroll down to see how many companies have been sued by CARB in the last few decades. They make rules that most of us know nothing about, then sue us for violating them. Diesel is just the easiest target. So until they can't make money off of it any more, they will just keep on killing our industry. AT this point no one will ship a cardboard box to this state for fear of being sued.
Ok, ok Rant over. But this is info that needs to be out there. Please read and spread the info around. Maybe someday Calif will be what it used to be. And Diesel can be free to get killer fuel economy again. ") Thanks for listening.

 

[Crank]

Always understood was that to grasp more than the tall straw was to let out be the one . Short straw drew it.

 

[fest3er]

It has *always* been about money and power. Since 1985 or so, 'clean' has been nothing more than a feint to distract people from the money and power grabs.