Diesels are not Done: A Defense of the Oil Burners #BlogPost

Electricity has potential in passenger vehicles, but in its current state of innovation, it falls short to the Diesel engine. Not only are Diesels lauded for their torque and efficiency, but also for their reliability and range. A vehicle powered by a Diesel engine is not always a dirty, lifted truck that spews coal at every chance it gets; in more economical applications, it is an engine that can obtain high fuel efficiencies without sacrificing its ability to pull a trailer. Due to this, and the considerable amounts of engineering done to it since 1893 that have brought it to this stage, the Diesel engine is not to be underestimated in the modern world, being an excellent choice not only in commercial trucks, but also in passenger vehicles.

1. They're not as Polluting as they are Thought to Be

An oil-powered engine, like a petrol-powered engine, needs to be built to the current time’s emissions regulations, which can make the vehicle dirty if it’s older due to the regulations being less stringent. As the engines and fuels improve with time, the allowed amount of pollutants decreases, making the engines conform to these updated rules in order for them to be used in a manufacturer’s vehicle. The one other main way for a Diesel vehicle to be seen as damaging the environment is if the engine is modified to increase the amount of fuel going into the engine, causing coal-like clouds of soot to be emitted.

In a world of ever-changing standards for oil-burners, the Diesel Particulate Filter is its best friend, with it collecting soot in the exhaust in order to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere. After some time, in order to maintain its capabilities, the filter is regenerated, which means that the soot that was collected is burned to the point that it becomes nothing more than ash. This typically occurs when it is 45% full; at this point, the ECU starts post combustion fuel injection in order to increase the exhaust temperature, burning the soot.

Along with this, Diesel fuel additives, such as exhaust fluid, help to reduce the amount of pollutants, primarily that of nitrogen oxides, which was a large issue with Diesels before the fluid’s introduction; it is a solution that is 32.5% urea and 67.5% distilled water. This urea is utilized in a system known as Selective Catalytic Reduction, where the fluid is sprayed into the exhaust system, and through a catalyst, the urea is converted into ammonium. From there, the ammonium gas chemically reacts with the nitrogen oxides, creating water and nitrogen, two harmless products that are then released into the atmosphere.

2. Maintenance is Simple

Concerning the methods utilized by Diesel vehicles, the particulate filters and urea solutions are simple solutions to vastly reducing diesel vehicles’ emissions; in Diesel Range Rovers from 2016, the Selective Catalytic Reduction system decreased the level of nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 90% through the use of the Diesel exhaust fluid (also known as AdBlue), allowing the diesel models to meet the EU6 emissions legislation.

These measures to lower the amount of pollutants released by a Diesel engine is a mandatory regulation in a similar manner to how their petrol-based cousins must turn to downsizing, hybridizing, and turbocharging in order to meet the emissions regulations that are set on them. Such technologies, when they are first created, can be complex, but they are improved with time by updating the concepts’ designs and implementations in the vehicle. While two tanks have to be filled (one with the diesel fuel, the other with the urea solution), there are many gas stations that have the exhaust fluid available in the case that a vehicle is running low on the fluid, and whenever the vehicle is serviced, the dealership will usually fill the urea tank.

3. Runaway Motors can be Stopped

With many safeguards in place to prevent a Diesel runaway from occurring, there is still the small chance for what is known as a Diesel runaway; this is where the engine will, on its own, rev to the point where the engine destroys itself. It is caused by the air that enters the engine through the intake, and this airflow is only controlled by the amount of fuel injected into the engine’s cylinders; rather than using a throttle body like a gasoline engine, a Diesel engine relies on compression alone to ignite the fuel-air mixture. Despite the computer being able to regulate the quantity of fuel injected into the cylinders, a runaway can still occur because of a bad accelerator pedal, fuel or air that have other substances in them like propane or natural gas, and the lubricating oil being consumed by either the turbocharger or a crankcase breather pipe.

In the case that the Diesel engine begins to act sentiently and go rogue, put the transmission in neutral and stop the vehicle, pulling over if driving on a road and shutting the engine off. From there, one has to cut off the airflow; one way of doing so is by using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher and spraying where the intake is (or spraying the entire engine). The carbon dioxide will halt the oxygen from entering the engine, stopping the airflow, and since oxygen is needed for combustion to occur inside an engine, the engine will stop. One can also manually block the intake by using any object (like a rag) to do so; if the engine does not stop, it means that there are leaks in the intake’s piping that are still able to take in air. If the vehicle has a manual transmission, an alternative option is to shift the vehicle into the highest possible gear, push the brake pedal, and release the clutch; this will force the car into stalling, stopping the engine.

After the engine stops, the vehicle should not be started again in order to prevent a second runaway, and it should be towed to a service shop in order for the issue to be solved.

4. Diesel has Inherent Benefits

Despite its rare tendency to run amok, the Diesel engine prides itself on efficiency, one of the factors that allowed Audi to revolutionize Le Mans Prototype cars. While a gasoline engine can output approximately thirty percent of its fuel’s energy as the engine’s energy, a Diesel engine can convert forty-five to fifty percent of its energy into the engine’s power, with this efficiency allowing them to run at cooler temperatures due to less wasted heat being emitted. Along with this, there is less carbon monoxide made by a Diesel engine, and the fuel itself is not as combustible as petrol.

Another aspect that an oil-burner takes pride in is its durability; since it does not need spark plugs like a gasoline engine, it does not need an ignition system or does not fail because there is no spark. The lack of a high-voltage system like this does not mean that radio frequencies are emitted, allowing any other electronics to run without any disruptions. These engines are also durable because they are generally constructed with more durable components, and with them having better lubricating properties, the parts are able to survive twice as long as those in the Diesel engines’ gasoline-powered counterparts. Since these parts are more durable, it allows engineers to turbocharge Diesels more easily since the only limit to how much pressure can be used is how strong the engine is. With this boost, the Diesel engine can create loads of torque, which helps with burnouts, acceleration, and pulling.

With these two major points, the Diesel engine can also run with other, more synthetic blends of fuel. When this type of engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel in 1893, it was created to run on peanut oil; the engines of today that follow Diesel’s design are capable of utilizing non-petroleum-based biofuels, allowing them to further reduce their ecological impact.

Yes, Diesel cannot match electricity’s emissions because electricity does not emit any pollutants. There are, however, pollutants created when the batteries are produced, utilized, and recycled. The batteries need toxic chemicals like calcium and lithium to power their reactions, and these chemicals can negatively impact the environment by contaminating soil and water and harming wildlife.

The other major issue with the batteries is that in order to hold a large amount of energy, the batteries must also be large, which adds a significant amount of weight. If electricity is to commercially succeed in efficiency, further development of the battery packs is needed in order to extend the vehicle’s range, which can be troublesome if the motors have to pull a heavy load in a truck. Since the motors create all of their torque at a standstill, moving the vehicle would, in theory, be a simple task, but when one considers that a commercial application would require large amounts of energy for the truck driver to have as few stops to make as possible, the Diesel engine becomes a more alluring option even with smaller applications like light-duty trucks where pulling power and good efficiency are needed.

The day that the batteries are updated to the point where they can hold a large amount of energy and promise a large range will be the day that electricity trumps both petrol and diesel as the superior choice for passenger vehicles. Electricity and hydrogen are promising forms of alternative energy that could take the market by storm, but they need more development in order for them to reach this point. Diesel is still a viable alternative to gasoline, offering several key benefits over the latter; in Europe, more than half of the new cars in 2014 utilized this invention to make them move about. Diesel is in its prime; it is not only a reliable, economical choice in tractor-trailers and passenger cars, but a powerful, durable choice for a top-tier race car.

There will come a day when electricity has the upper hand, but Diesel is still marching on and will do so for some time.

Concerning my return to blog posts, I’m very thankful to Christopher Smith because he inspired me with his post to write about this topic, and while he and I may not share the same view points, we both have our own reasons for those view points. I would also like to thank everybody that views my content because I love to share my creative ideas with all of you and it makes me happy when people like them. Thank you very much for reading this; I hope to do more of these again in the future!