Diesels are not cleaner, but it's a complicated story because you have to factor in the process to make a car (and batteries in the case of hybrids and electrics), the fuel efficiency, the emissions given off and the longevity.
Diesels are, however, very fuel efficient and can last a long time. But they give off small particulate matter that gets lodged into people's lungs, shaving days, months and years off people's lives. I don't know how clean clean diesel cars are, but every time I see black soot coming out of a truck, I want to punch someone. That's going straight into our lungs.
Clean diesel is the biggest industry scam since smoking. Thousands die every year from small particle emission from vehicles. Smog damages baby brain development.
Most diesel cars emitt up to ten times small particles like pm2.5 than car regulation and it's really bad for human health.
They are superior in every way except the one that matters: diesels are much dirtier than gasoline engines, especially with respect to particulate emissions.
Diesels are only good for limited purposes, like buses and trucks, that need the higher efficiency.
It used to be difficult - to the point of being impractical - to make a small diesel car run cleanly. IIRC, the technology really only arrived about 5 years ago. Also, large trucks belching plumes of black soot were pretty common until recently, and this is how many people here still think of diesel.
Actually Diesel engines are the most efficient ICE in mass production, modern engines respecting the latest emission standards (ex: EURO 6) are some of the least dirty vehicles on the road. If you compare fuel efficiency per ton per kilometer and what is the pollution caused, they become quite clean. Yes, older Diesel trucks are dirty and also the ones with improper maintenance, but hitting at all trucks because of some is not fair.
This is very good news for air quality in cities. Dirty diesel has for a long while polluted city air, while car makers claimed they where "clean". The only clean part about diesels where lower co2 emissions, diesels pollute a lot of small particles which are bad for humans to breathe. Modern hybrid cars has as low fuel consumption as diesels but pollutes a lot less particles in cities.
Yeah. Diesel can be made to burn clean though, and diesel-engined cars are more efficient (~20-40%). We Americans have the need for speed and diesel engines are slow-accelerating, which keeps sales low.
Modern diesels, sure. Latest offerings from BMW, Mercedes or Audi are actually super clean, especially if equipped with an AdBlue system. But get out on the road and you see people still driving 90s diesels which emit huge plumes of black smoke every time they accelerate, and I know people who buy brand new cars and the first thing they do is cut out the DPF, EGR and pretty much every other emissions reducing system "to keep the running costs low". It's a disgrace, and older diesels should absolutely be straight up banned in cities with very harsh penalties for modifying modern ones(in UK removing the DPF attracts a £5000 fine, but in many EU countries it's still not a problem).
Diesel cars are very clean these days. The problem is that until recently in the US the standard of diesel typically found was of a lower quality than EuroDiesel. Now it has tighter regulations, but diesel cars still carry the stigma.
Not only that, but diesel is rare in North America. You cannot guarantee that the next gas station you pass will serve diesel. That alone is enough to put people off buying them.
Ford, General Motors and all the Japanese brands offer diesel models of their fleet in Europe but they don't tend to sell them here.
I have a diesel that's in at the mechanic at the moment because it's blowing plumes of blueish smoke every now and again. 4 different mechanics have all had different theories (ECG valve, turbo, air supply system, injectors) so as a result I've had to learn a lot about it myself because I no longer trust any of them.
Currently I'm starting to think the issue is with the DPF (diesel particulate filter) system which is responsible for pulling the soot out of the exhaust. The extra soot is the result of reburning the exhaust in a 2nd combustion to try to keep the emissions down. There's then another process (DPF regeneration) that pumps extra diesel into the engine during the exhaust stroke to try to burn the carbon particles out of the DPF to keep it clean.
Stopping to think about the horrors of the filthy process that goes on inside all of these vehicles is eye opening, to say the least. I know electric vehicles aren't without an environmental cost — but if there's anything that can be done to move the pollution away from urban environments that seems like a pretty positive thing to me.
I suspect in 50 years time people are going to look back on the burning of fossil fuels with shock.
> If she researched a little more she would have not got a new hybrid but some old diesel. It's probably cleaner than agasoline hybrid
I was under the impression old diesels were dirtier than gasoline engines. New clean deisels like in Audi's no, but old ones? But you're saying they're cleaner?
Gasoline burns very cleanly in modern (that is, <10 years) vehicles, with little to no emissions other than CO2, and most importantly, no particulate pollution. Particulate pollution is much worse for diesel vehicles, though.
Compared to those two, though, coal power plants are dirty as hell, and I’d take equivalent amount of car emissions to generate the same power over coal any day.
Trucks running dirty diesel aren’t really the same thing as a modern gasoline car.
Particulate pollution from highways and major roads is definitely a real issue and there have been studies done showing a lot of health problems result from living 250-500m or closer to such a road.
But if we’re talking about a modern emissions-compliant gas/petrol ICE vs a coal power plant I’m not sure how that shakes out. Coal power emissions are estimated to have massive health effects that affect millions as well.
(Of course, best solution is electric car powered by nat gas, nuclear, or renewables which don’t emit particulates at all...)
Yeah, diesel used to be terrible environmentally-speaking, but now it's actually very good. They've made big improvements over the years, between engine efficiency and that low-sulfur fuel they use now. That said, they're less convenient in some respects, which is going to be a barrier whether we like it or not.
Strange how no one talks anymore about how much more efficient and more suited diesel engines are when it comes to everyday traffic than petrol engines. It's become all about particles, and yes, diesel is more dangerous to humans if not filtered correctly. But at the same time, diesel engines are using less fuel and there is no reason why we shouldn't use DPF when they are available. I switched to a diesel car not long ago, and I can safely say that as long diesel cars are being manufactured, I'll never go back to petrol.
Diesels are, however, very fuel efficient and can last a long time. But they give off small particulate matter that gets lodged into people's lungs, shaving days, months and years off people's lives. I don't know how clean clean diesel cars are, but every time I see black soot coming out of a truck, I want to punch someone. That's going straight into our lungs.
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