Comments on: Japan’s Diesel Phoenix?

By: Cammy Corrigan

Cammy Corrigan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:20:01 +0000

Stingray,

The EU are concentrating on lowering CO2, which is where diesel will excel over petrol (but still be beaten by hybrids). But I don’t trust our laws. Remember the Germans lobby HARD to make emission laws favourable, after all, the don’t want to restrict their auto industry, too much, do they….?

By: arapaima

arapaima — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:18:12 +0000

I for one would be leery of having compressed gas tanks in my automobile. If it’s anything like SCUBA tanks, you would really have to pay attention to the tanks,same goes with hydrogen, except hydrogen spontaneously combusts in air (with an invisible flame too!). I’ll go for diesel until we come up with solutions to some of the lingering issues.

By: Stingray

Stingray — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:02:50 +0000

Agreed, but ummm it’s kinda like hybrids… it allows to develop the technology to handle hydrogen ahead.

In BS hybrid case… it’s battery technology. Which is the only useful application I see for such complex machinery.

Cammy, do you know if Japanese diesel emissions standards are similar to Euro 5 or tougher?

By: psarhjinian

psarhjinian — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:48:10 +0000

Nobody is ever going to consider CNG?

Not until they solve the storage issue, no. I like CNG and LPG, especially in urban environments where smog is an issue. If I ever buy an obnoxious sports car, I’m converting it to CNG…

…but it’s not convenient to store or transport. The whole “high pressure, low energy” thing is problematic. Gasoline and diesel are easy to cope with; CNG faces much of the same operational challenges that hydrogen does.

By: Stingray

Stingray — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:41:29 +0000

Nobody is ever going to consider CNG?

Let’s see BS fad vs diesel… I vote diesel. May I vote electric, hydrogen or CNG?

But… are the Japanese buying cars?