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To: NavVet
Drive a Diesel, costs less and get's better milage than a hybrid without all the extra parts to break.
Yes. OTOH there could be something to be said for a hybrid diesel. In principle a diesel is simply a gasoline engine modified to the extreme for fuel economy over drivability, noise, first cost - indeed all other considerations (except durability; the diesel takes such a beating, and it so expensive anyway, that it has to be made durable in order to hold together at all - let alone last long enough for its fuel economy to overbalance its high first cost). The hybrid concept could readily compensate for the operability problems associated with diesels.

In fact, there exists a diesel design which is even more efficient than the standard fuel-injected version, but is entirely inoperable in a standard vehicle with a mechanical transmission. The dual-fuel diesel has injectors for diesel oil, but that is intended only to act as a pilot charge, analogous to the spark plug in a gasoline engine. The main fuel source for the dual-fuel diesel is natural gas (gasoline would presumably work), carburated lean enough to prevent autoignition without the pilot charge of injected oil.

That system is highly efficient, but it is inoperable in a normal setup because the only way of controling its power level is to impose the load on it which will hold its RPM down to the desired speed which gives the desired power. As a practical matter that rules out the use of a mechanical transmission, but an electric drive can accomplish it.

I have no idea how that would play into emissions considerations, but otherwise it would seem to be a go - if indeed you are willing to pay for the most efficient drive short of a fuel cell. I would agree with the idea bruited by the GM exec who said that a city transit bus - which racks up high mileage in stop-and-go operation - is the least illogical application for hybrid technology.


39 posted on 12/02/2005 7:09:11 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion

My ride is a hybrid diesel almost every day. The hybrid drive has some major benefits: no transmission=low floor so everybody can get on and off quickly also, lower emissions, which in NYC means not getting blasted with soot when the bus pulls away from the curve.

43 posted on 12/02/2005 7:18:57 PM PST by hedgie
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion

Having read your post, I must conclude your engineering knowledge is limited at best.


47 posted on 12/02/2005 7:49:15 PM PST by gogeo (Often wrong but seldom in doubt.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
Yes. OTOH there could be something to be said for a hybrid diesel.

Diesel locomotives are all hybrids.

That having been said, there is a very important difference between locomotive and automotive design objectives.

Locomotives are supposed to be heavy. Even if one were to produce a miraculous power source for a locomotive which could supply all the needed power and energy in a fifty pound package, one would still have to throw in many tons of balast to have a usable locomotive. By contrast, cars are supposed to be lightweight. If someone could design a car's power source to be 50lbs while still providing useful power and energy, that would be a major engineering coup.

58 posted on 12/02/2005 10:00:41 PM PST by supercat (Sony delinda est.)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion

I read an article recently that said new diesels are 90 percent quieter than they were ten yeas ago, you no longer have the cold starting problems etc. I also read an article about a head to head comparison with a new VW diesel car and a hybrid and on a trip non-stop from Detroit to D.C., the diesel (not a hybrid diesel) got considerably better gas mileage than did the hybrid car.


66 posted on 12/03/2005 1:17:03 AM PST by NavVet (“Benedict Arnold was wounded in battle fighting for America, but no one remembers him for that.”)
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