| HISTORY
DIESEL ENGINE
COMPARISON BETWEEN PETROL
AND DIESEL CAR
REVIEW
History
In 1893,
German inventor Rudolph Diesel published a paper entitled
"The Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Engine,"
which described an engine in which air is compressed by a
piston to a very high pressure, causing a high temperature.
Fuel is then injected and ignited by the compression temperature.
Diesel built his first engine based on that theory the same
year and, though it worked only sporadically, he patented
it. Within a few years, Diesel's design became the standard
of the world for that type of engine and his name was attached
to it.
Diesel thought the United States was the greatest potential
market for his engine and he was almost right. The first diesel
built in the United States was made in 1898 by Busch-Zulzer
Brothers Diesel Engine Co. President was Adolphus Busch, of
Budweiser brewing fame, who had purchased North American manufacturing
rights.
Diesel died under mysterious circumstances in 1913, vanishing
during an overnight crossing of the English Channel on the
mail steamer Dresden from Antwerp to Harwich. It might have
been suicide (though there was no evidence) or an accident
(again, no evidence) or assassination (pure speculation.)
Proponents of the assassination theory point out that shortly
after Diesel's death, a diesel-powered German submarine fleet
became the scourge of the seas. Diesel had been friendly to
France, Britain and the United States.
In 1997, only two makers, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, offer
passenger cars with diesel engines in the United States. The
diesel car is dead in this country, killed by a serious engineering
mistake and by cheap gasoline. But there have been a lot of
papers on the subject in recent years at Society of Automotive
Engineers gatherings. Why? There has been a lot of talk about
production and marketing of electric cars to meet clean-air
standards. But a very real challenge looming is meeting higher
CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards of 40 miles
per gallon and higher. It will require small diesels, of the
sort several Japanese makers already build and market in Japan.
These diesels are not fantasy, they are an old and proven
technology. And their fuel economy is unquestioned.
Twenty years ago, the passenger car diesel engine was the
darling of the industry, popular both in luxury cars and in
small econoboxes. The clatter of the diesel was heard beneath
the hood of Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac, Volvo and Peugeot,
Volkswagen Rabbit and Chevrolet Chevette. The reason: OPEC.
The first oil crisis in 1973 shook us. The second in 1978
scared us, scared us so bad that car buyers were willing to
ignore the diesel's noise, fumes, smell and iffy cold-weather
starting to get the benefit of its good fuel economy. (Most
of these problems with the diesel have since been solved.)
Sales of passenger cars powered by diesels grew rapidly, peaking
in 1981 at 520,788. Some 60 percent of those diesel cars were
built by General Motors. That was 10 percent of GM sales that
year. For other makers, diesels were a bigger factor. They
accounted for almost 85 percent of Peugeot sales in the United
States, 78 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales, 58 percent of Isuzu
sales and almost half of Volkswagen sales. Diesel passenger
cars were also sold by Audi, Volvo and Datsun in 1981.
Then
there were problems with GM's diesels. Blocks cracked and
crankshafts wore prematurely. Critics complained that it was
just a converted gasoline engine and clubs of disgruntled
owners sprang up and lawsuits were filed. Tougher emission
standards caused problems for all diesel makers.
But
worst of all, the price of gasoline began to decline. So did
diesel sales. GM, which had been so bullish on diesels, ended
production in 1985. Gasoline prices fell to the lowest levels
ever, in terms of real dollars.
Now,
the only diesel-powered passenger cars available in the United
States are the Mercedes-Benz (less than 6 percent of that
maker's sales) and Volkswagen (almost 5 percent of its sales).
But diesel engines are available in a number of pickup trucks,
which are often used in place of cars. And, of course, they
are common in heavy trucks.
The
diesel is an internal combustion engine, as is the gasoline,
but with a difference. For one thing, the diesel has no spark
plugs but relies on high compression (typically about 22:1,
compared with 8:1 or 9:1 for most gasoline engines) for ignition.
Diesels are heavier, more fuel efficient and longer-lasting
(usually), which has made them popular in heavy truck applications.
The
diesel may have become trendy in the '70s, but it was far
from new. Mercedes-Benz began building diesel automobiles
in the '30s, long-lasting and dependable units, many of which
were still in taxicab service in Germany a quarter of a century
later. In 1975, only Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot and Opel sold
diesel cars in the United States. GM got into the diesel market
in 1977 and sold one million of them from 1977 to 1981 as
buyers looked for a hedge against rising fuel prices. |
