Are Diesel Cars The Coming Thing?

I would Love to have Full Size Diesel Hybrid Pickup.

big rockpile

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I love my diesel F350. Especially on the mountain grades where I pass everyone else without even trying. I really, really want a diesel car too. My dream car would be an all-wheel diesel Subaru Forester with a 6-speed manual. It's available in europe, but not here in the US. I think diesels will be the wave of the future because biodiesel is something you might make at home to fill your tank.

I'm trying to find a tree that will produce an oil crop to make biodiesel. So far my climate is a little too cold for the olives I planted. Warm enough that the leaves don't fall off in winter, but cold enough that fruit is not setting.

I tried the Chinese tallow tree, but that completely froze out in winter. I'm now trying another Chinese tree called Yellowhorn, which is supposed to produce oil rich edible nuts. Just got some in the ground this last spring. If the permaculture route to oil production doesn't work, I might have to try a dryland row crop.

Interesting article. It claims the lower mpg is due to heavier cars because of safety features and conveniences. "Simply put, comparing today’s high-mpg cars with the high-mpg cars of a few decades ago is neither accurate nor fair. Modern cars are much heavier than their predecessors because of federally mandated safety and emissions equipment and consumer-demanded amenities. All of this makes it much more difficult to reach 40 mpg."
I wonder if it is pretty much because all the bells and whistles sell better to the new car buyers(who "need" those extra amenities) than the bare bones basic cars. You have to wonder why motorcycles are still allowed on the road if they are so worried about safety. I also wonder why we can't drive ATVs legally on side roads. We obviously aren't that worried about saving fuel.
Honda civic has gone down in fuel efficiency, and the cars are bigger. I've gotten 49mpg out of my 91, but you don't see that sort of mileage advertised in them now. Dealerships are proud to advertise little over 30mpg. Many of these newer so called fuel efficient cars sure cost a pretty penny too. As far as safety goes, you can flip a big car as easy as a little one. I've had my civic for 18 years and still alive. The older cars aren't too bad to work on either. I wouldn't mind having a diesel if the price was reasonable.

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Claycreekfarm.info

Clovis, I run an approximately 50/50 waste motor oil diesel mix in warm weather, less used oil in cold weather. I mix the used oil/diesel then run it through 2 filters, and a "sock" that contains rare earth magnets to extract any metal particles, or as much as possible.

It runs well on this mix and gets around 30 mpg. Using this mixture cuts my fuel cost to under $2.00 per gallon, in my opinion, that's the equivalent of 60 mpg in a vehicle that has the bells and whistles, is comfortable and safer.

Wendle, I was in LE for many years and too many times saw up close and ugly what usually happens when a light vehicle and a heavy one are involved in a wreck. The little car and it's occupants fare worse almost every time. I'll take my chances in a bigger, heavier car.

The farmer up the road used a surplus high pressure oxygen compressor to fill the vehicles he converted to run on either natural gas or gasoline. The natural gas came from a well on the farm. I think you could also use a surplus dive shop compressor, a compressor for filling paintball tanks or even a high pressure air compressor setup from a fire department.

Wow...now that is interesting!!!!

I wish you lived closer. I have about 7 or 8 gallons of clean WMO, plus another 10 gallons that my dad has. I'd love to give it to you.

Any loss of power?

Very good point.

For discussions sake, it makes you wonder why golf carts aren't allowed on any town street with a posted speed limit of 30 or less.

If I understand correctly, Indiana has some vague laws about golf carts on town and country roads. Seemingly the buck got passed to the cities...and I guess counties as well.

It appears, as I am told, that the cities, towns and counties are afraid of being sued by someone who was in an auto/golf cart accident.

I am told that for many years, a few people tried to get golf carts allowed on our town's streets, and was able to get the issue in front of the town council. One of the council members, who happens to drive a monster truck and a big block, tricked out and chipped sports car, adamantly opposed the use of golf carts, and derided them as being silly, worthless, and a hazard on the roads.

So, for many years, one guy has determined that golf carts should be illegal, that is, until we elected a new mayor who allowed the law to be passed.

Golf carts are legal now, but they have to have seat belts, turn signals, be rated as less than 30 miles an hour, have an IN license plate, and a permit and inspection by the police department.

By the time you bought or upgraded a golf cart, a person could buy a cheap run-bout car and a ton of gas. Crazy, isn't it?

I suspect that ATV's would be nearly impossible to pass in the county, especially with the good old rich boys that run our county...but I wonder if anyone has ever tried to get them passed.

They also allow those little moped things around town. I can't see where those are safer than a golf cart. They aren't seatbelted in and only have a helmet for protection.

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Good point, Wendle.

If I had a dollar for every time that I've seen a 14 year old boy, literally driving 35 or 40 miles an hour in a 20 MPH zone, and driving as if he had just stolen it, I would be a multi-millionaire.

It absolutely makes no sense to me whatsoever. We allow dare devil boys to whip around town as if they had a death wish, but if I want to drive a golf cart to the gas station for a Coke, I've got to be buckled up with a shoulder restraining seat belt.

[QUOTE=jwal10;6078148]The state here runs many CNG (compressed natural gas) cars in their fleet, mostly in large cities. A refueling station is very complicated and expensive. You can buy one of the cars at auction on Ebay cheap....James/[QUOTE]

And what idiot engineer made it so complicated? As I stated before,, its not rocket science.
So someone wiser than us made the delivery system of natural gas expensive,, ok,,, and then somone wiser than us,, made refueling complicated,, ok,, I get it now.
dipstiks. all of em.

[QUOTE=Marshloft;6080284][QUOTE=jwal10;6078148]The state here runs many CNG (compressed natural gas) cars in their fleet, mostly in large cities. A refueling station is very complicated and expensive. You can buy one of the cars at auction on Ebay cheap....James/It's not complicated.

It's just a multistage compressor that is used to produce the high pressures needed to store enough natural gas to get a reasonable driving range. The same general type of compressor is used to fill tanks with welding gases, fill medical oxygen cylinders, fill the self contained breathing apparatus that firefighters use, fill SCUBA tanks, and fill the tanks that supply the gas for paintball guns.

If a farmer can cobble something together and run his truck and tractor on natural gas, it isn't rocket science. Nor is it complicated.

BTW, just because something may be expensive, doesn't mean it's complicated.

Darren,,, is there any difference between re-fueling natural gas vs propane?
My Dad had a propane tank in the back of his pickup, we ran on propane and gas in his pickup. And used the tank to fill the tractor in the fields. It was a duel purpose tank.

Since both are compressed gasses, the procedure should be similar. The difference would be that since naural gas has an underground distribution network, it would be simple to install a natural gas (compressors) filling station anywhere you had a suitable supply line. Existing gasoline retailers could also install a CNG fill station.

Propane is a liquid, and the NG is a high pressure gas. Pressures are around 300psi for LP vs. 3000psi, so CNG tanks are like welding gas tanks.

Michael

No one I know wants to be caught with off road diesel in their car or truck, the penalty(fine) is g normus!!!

Diesel has a major problem to overcome with American consumers, the odor. It lingers and it stinks. You spill a little gasoline on you pants and it smells but its almost sweet plus its gone in a couple of hours. Spill a little diesel on your pants it stinks and it will stink for days. Ditto for getting it on your hands.

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The fine is indeed huge, from what I understand.

But, I bet, if the truth were known, there is a ton of tax-free diesel being burned every day in passenger vehicles.

FWIW, the rumor going around here is that the state police are pulling pick-ups with farm plates over, and sticking tanks. Is it true they can impound the truck and ticket the driver for over $1,000, or is that just legend?

Very good point!!!!