<VV> re:48 mpg VW diesel...no Corvair

[airvair]

That's why I've advocated mandating the ADJUSTING of the tax tables
(both Fed and State) so that diesel is ALWAYS less expensive than gas.
(Note that there would be NO overall increase or decrease in taxes, just
a shifting of the burden.) That would ensure that there would be market
incentive to go to diesel.

-Mark

Bill Elliott wrote:
> 
> Not quite... though that may be true recently. Historically higher
> taxation has been the reason that diesel was often higher than gasoline
> (and the reason that gasoline is so expensive in Europe). A large part
> of this is political (since the average person doesn't use diesel, they
> don't object to it being artificially expensive like they would gas).
> 
> Besides the expense of the fuel and the GM engines of the 70's, the
> other reason that diesels have not done well here is that while
> environmentalists in Europe have supported diesel as an environmentally
> superior solution to burning gasoline and supported laws and taxes
> (against business which would just as soon use gasoline) which
> encouraged their use. On the other hand, those leading the
> "environmental" movement in the US have always fought diesel as being
> worse than gasoline and have fought legislation encouraging it, putting
> them on the same side as business and guaranteeing that favorable laws
> would never pass.
> 
> Hopefully, the low-sulphur rules (put in place to improve emissions
> and/or punish business, not to encourage diesel use) will have the
> "unintended consequence" of getting more small diesels in use in the us.
> I'm renting a FIAT diesel this summer while touring Italy... it just
> makes sense. A lot more sense than hybrids (which are NOT
> environmentally responsible when their entire lifecycle costs are
> considered.)
> 
> I owned a "old technology" '79 Rabbit diesel which could manage 55mpg at
> 55mph... and the new TDI's are similarly impressive (while being much
> more powerful and cleaner)... I could see a Corvair with a 200hp
> Mercedes diesel conversion.... ;-)
> 
> Bill
> 
> efki at verizon.net wrote:
> 
> >The reason that diesel is costs more than the regular is the sulfur removal.
> >In California the ppm of sulfur has been going down and down. It somewhere
> >around 7/8 ppm. Before low sulfur was in the 1500 ppm range. By the way
> >taking all of the sulfur out is on par with taking the lead out of gasoline.
> >
> >It's smog thing. I don't know how it is in other states, but here in Cal. a
> >trucker can be cited if they let their semi idle more than 5 min. Hum... I
> >wonder how the CHP writes all those tickets in rush hour traffic???lol
> >
> >