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The future of Diesel powered vehicles, neat stuff

I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
The LNG I'm used to has to be stored at -264 degrees F. That won't work well in a standard fuel tank.
 
jackjoh

jackjoh

Jack - KC6NAR
Supporting Member
Location
Riverton, UT
Just saw the site. Very interesting, my brother in law, nuclear engineer, says that diesel will be the fuel of choice in about 10 years in the US just like it is in Europe. All government has to do to make it happen is increase taxes on gas and lower them on diesel. Of course you realize that our government has done just the opposite. Makes you wonder if the government is on our side with this and gas companies raising prices and then lowering them to make us feel good. Of course the price never gets back down to what it was even a year ago. There was a previous quote about this very thing.
 
glockman

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
The LNG I'm used to has to be stored at -264 degrees F. That won't work well in a standard fuel tank.
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A guy I work with is from Sweden. He said they have several LNG stations over there. I will have to ask him about the storage temp thing. The big advantage to LNG is it removes the huge tanks required to run CNG and also the time to fill at the station.

LNG is not the same thing as Propane.
 
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Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Bacteria churn out first ever petrol-like biofuel
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23431-bacteria-churn-out-first-ever-petrollike-biofuel.html

Unleaded, diesel or biofuel? This could become the choice at the pump now we can make biofuels that are identical to the petrol we put in our cars, planes and trucks.

Until now, biofuels have been made up of hydrocarbon chains of the wrong size and shape to be truly compatible with most modern engines – they'll work, but only inefficiently, and over time they will corrode the engine.

To be used as a mainstream alternative to fossil fuels – desirable because biofuels are carbon-neutral over their lifetime – engines would have to be redesigned, or an extra processing step employed to convert the fuel into a more usable form.

To try to bypass that, John Love from the University of Exeter in the UK and colleagues took genes from the camphor tree, soil bacteria and blue-green algae and spliced them into DNA from Escherichia coli bacteria. When the modified E. coli were fed glucose, the enzymes they produced converted the sugar into fatty acids and then turned these into hydrocarbons that were chemically and structurally identical to those found in commercial fuel.

"We are biologically producing the fuel that the oil industry makes and sells," says Love.

The team now needs to work out how to scale-up the project to mass-produce hydrocarbons.

The E. coli were fed on glucose made from plants, but Love reckons that if they were to scale-up, they could tweak the genes to produce enzymes that would allow the bacteria to feed on straw or animal manure. This would mean that land wouldn't be needed to grow the feedstock that would otherwise be used for food crops – one of the criticisms of biofuels.

Paul Freemont of Imperial College London describes the work as a "beautiful study". He says it illustrates the potential of using a similar approach for bio-manufacturing not only biofuels but other chemicals we currently source from petroleum, such as those used to make plastics, solvents or detergents.

The work was partly funded by energy company Shell's research arm.
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Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Now this has some potential to be something!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/08/20/nissan-titan-cummins-diesel-ram/2677569/

Nissan says its redesigned Titan fullsize pickup will have a Cummins diesel V-8, giving it a model to challenge Chrysler's Ram 1500 diesel.

Nissan's banking on the well-known Cummins name trumping the Ram's Italian diesel unknown to most U.S. buyers. The Cummins will be manufactured at Cummins' Columbus, Ind., factory.

"Truck owners told us there's a demand for the performance and torque of a diesel in a capable truck that doesn't require the jump up to a heavy-duty commercial pickup," said Fred Diaz, Nissan's U.S. sales and marketing chief.

Diesels generally get better mileage and can carry and tow heavier loads.

The Cummins, in final stages of development, will be rated more than 300 horsepower and roughly 550 pounds-feet of torque, Nissan said.

Nissan wouldn't say when the truck or the diesel will be available, but the automaker's comments made is seem as if the truck comes before the diesel option. Nissan also did not give pricing for either the truck or the diesel option, nor specify mileage ratings.

Ram's V-6 diesel is rated 240 hp, 420 lbs.-ft. of torque. It's a $2,850 option over the price of Hemi-equipped Ram. Hemi's the most-expensive gasoline engine. It's not due until late this year or early next year. Chrysler forecasts fuel economy as 25 mpg; the engine hasn't been rated via government tests yet.

Ram diesel is rated to tow up to 9,200 lbs. and will be mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Ram diesel is supplied by VM Motor, a Chrysler supplier since 1992 The same engine is used in Chrysler Group's Jeep Grand Cherokee.

None of the other big-pickup makers -- Ford Motor, General Motors and Toyota -- offers a diesel in their standard-duty pickups.

Toyota had been rumored to have a diesel ready for the redesigned, 2014 Tundra fullsize truck, but did not, believing it is too costly an option and not aimed at its Tundra's target buyers.
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Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Another mid-size diesel truck coming out, from GM this time!


http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/20/2015-chevrolet-colorado-revealed-diesel-la/

At launch, two gasoline engines will be offered – a 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a 3.6-liter V6, both mated exclusively to a six-speed automatic transmission. Official SAE power ratings are still pending, but Chevy tells us that the 2.5-liter engine is expected to produce 193 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, while the larger V6 should put out 302 hp and 270 lb-ft. With the V6, the Colorado should be able to tow some 6,700 pounds. In its second year on the market (2016 model year), Chevy will offer the Colorado with a 2.8-liter Duramax four-cylinder diesel engine, similar to the one currently used in its global versions. Power ratings have not been divulged as of this writing, but Luke reminded us that the current Thai-spec diesel puts out 200 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque. Chevy expects class-leading fuel economy from the Colorado, which, considering the aging competition (Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma), shouldn't be hard to achieve.
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Nearly 400 ft/lbs in a mid-size pickup ought to SCOOT! And return respectable mileage... that's quite exciting!
 
glockman

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
I'm a ford guy but the Titan is an awesome truck. If it comes with a cummins I will really be interested. That motor has almost as much power as my 6.0 powerstroke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
I wonder if Ram made a mistake by not going with the Cummins in their half ton trucks also. The idea of the ecodiesel was to compete for top mileage in a half ton. I think Ram has its sights set on trumping some of Fords ecoboost. Such a shame really.

LT.
 
Cascadia

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
Greg said:
Now this has some potential to be something!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...l-ram/2677569/


Nissan says its redesigned Titan fullsize pickup will have a Cummins diesel V-8, giving it a model to challenge Chrysler's Ram 1500 diesel.

Nissan's banking on the well-known Cummins name trumping the Ram's Italian diesel unknown to most U.S. buyers. The Cummins will be manufactured at Cummins' Columbus, Ind., factory.

"Truck owners told us there's a demand for the performance and torque of a diesel in a capable truck that doesn't require the jump up to a heavy-duty commercial pickup," said Fred Diaz, Nissan's U.S. sales and marketing chief.

Diesels generally get better mileage and can carry and tow heavier loads.

The Cummins, in final stages of development, will be rated more than 300 horsepower and roughly 550 pounds-feet of torque, Nissan said.

Nissan wouldn't say when the truck or the diesel will be available, but the automaker's comments made is seem as if the truck comes before the diesel option. Nissan also did not give pricing for either the truck or the diesel option, nor specify mileage ratings.

Ram's V-6 diesel is rated 240 hp, 420 lbs.-ft. of torque. It's a $2,850 option over the price of Hemi-equipped Ram. Hemi's the most-expensive gasoline engine. It's not due until late this year or early next year. Chrysler forecasts fuel economy as 25 mpg; the engine hasn't been rated via government tests yet.

Ram diesel is rated to tow up to 9,200 lbs. and will be mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Ram diesel is supplied by VM Motor, a Chrysler supplier since 1992 The same engine is used in Chrysler Group's Jeep Grand Cherokee.

None of the other big-pickup makers -- Ford Motor, General Motors and Toyota -- offers a diesel in their standard-duty pickups.

Toyota had been rumored to have a diesel ready for the redesigned, 2014 Tundra fullsize truck, but did not, believing it is too costly an option and not aimed at its Tundra's target buyers.
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When I was recently buying my new Tundra I asked if they were still coming out with a diesel. SupposedlyToyota scrapped the whole idea of the Cummins diesel after it was all designed and built for their trucks. Cummins approached Toyota because they had a perfectly good motor designed for a truck like a Tundra or Titan. Toyota went along with the idea for a little bit but they were having problems with the frames of their diesel trucks they were building. They were too strong for the crash test ratings. They were demolishing they were hitting and not crumpling or absorbing any impact. So Toyota gave up on the idea also. I was super bummed. I would have held out for Tundra diesel.
 
Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Magerdgr said:
Not diesel, but along the lines of the early posts. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Orems own here.

http://www.viamotors.com/events/detroitautoshow/
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That is cool. With the discovery of "super supercapacitors" we should start seeing some extremely powerful batteries (quick insanely quick charge times) in the near future.
This is already a year old (very much worth the watch)

[video=vimeo;51873011]http://vimeo.com/51873011[/video]
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Greg said:
I've long thought about a diesel-electric hybrid, my TDI Jetta already gets 48-50 MPG... add an electric motor & it makes me wonder what kind of mileage would be possible. If the manufacturers can build a gas-electric hybrid, why not a diesel-elec? Can you imagine how good that manufacturer would look of they made a car that got 75-80 MPG? And how popular that car would be, with oil pushing $100 a barrel?
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Looks like VW has been thinking about this for 10+ years! - http://jalopnik.com/driving-volkswagens-261-mpg-car-is-like-driving-the-fu-582194948

The VW XL1 is a prototype and is sports a diesel/electric drivetrain and is capable of 261 MPG! :freak: The diesel engine is a 0.8 liter TDI that makes 48 HP in addition to the electric motor. Check out the article, lots of amazing facts about the car. Built with a lot of carbon fiber, weighs under 1,800 lbs, etc, etc. Very impressive!

18rzbz26vv97zjpg.jpg


18s0x6iofehogjpg.jpg
 
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