Diesels We Can't Buy in North America

North America has been, let's face it, utterly slow in accepting diesel as an alternate fuel for passenger cars. To the average North American driver a diesel is what powers dumptrucks, farm tractors, and 18-wheeled rigs.

On the other side of the Atlantic where they average automobile driving consumer is somewhat more enlightened, diesels account for about half the passenger cars on the road.

Autobloggreen.com put together a gallery of 10 diesels available in Europe that are not sold here in North America.

Check out some of these numbers:

10) Chrysler Grand Voyager CRD - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
9) Porsche Cayenne Diesel - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
8) Volvo XC60 - 7.6L/100km (31 mpg US)
7) Jaguar XF S Diesel - 6.7L/100km (35 mpg US)
6) Honda Accord Tourer Type-S - 5.9L/100km (40 mpg US)
5) VW CC Blue TDi - 5.6L/100km (42 mpg US)
4) BMW 116d - 4.4L/100km (53 mpg US)
3) MINI Cooper D - 3.9L/100km (60 mpg US)
2) Ford Fiesta ecoNetic - 3.7L/100km (64 mpg US)
1) smart ForTwo CDI - 3.3L/100km (72 mpg US)

From minivans, to SUVs, to luxury sedans, to wagons, to compacts and subcompacts... each of these vehicles is sold in North America (not always the same name, but the same vehicle nonetheless) with a gasoline burning engine that doesn't even come close to the fuel economy of their diesel burning counterparts, and in some cases doesn't even match the performance numbers either.

Tesla EV Coming to Canada!

Forgive me if I get more than a little excited about this, but the Tesla Roadster will soon be available here in Canada. Not that I'll be able to even remotely afford one, but still it's very cool news, and I look forward to hopefully seeing one in the flesh... er... alloy one day.

In the mean time we have these images Courtesy of Norway's Ferdinand Motor to ogle, as well as some video of the Tesla testing on snow and ice thanks to autobloggreen.com


(more video at the link)

The full press release from Tesla can be read HERE.

The part I find most promising is this:

Canada is uniquely positioned to become a premier showcase for Tesla, which has delivered more than 200 cars to U.S. customers. Canada and Norway are the only two countries worldwide where the majority of electricity comes from renewable resources, including run-of-river small hydro, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar energy.

An EV recharged from the current Canadian grid, on average, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 85 percent compared to an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle. In hydro-dominant British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba, the reduction would be an impressive 98 percent.

Quebec has the capacity to produce so much hydro-electricity that we have leftover power that we sell users outside of the province. And it's all from renewable, and virtually non-polluting resources. Compared to electricity produced by burning coal, this puts us at a huge advantage in terms of how eco-friendly an EV in this province truly can be. While the Tesla is a dream car, I sincerely look forward to the day when battery power is the preferred means of vehicular motivation.

In the mean time, hopefully I'll get to see one at the 2009 edition of the Rallye R.E.A.L. this fall.

Why We Get the Shaft at the Pump

I did some research this afternoon in an attempt to figure out why gas prices jumped by nearly $0.20/liter (~$0.75/gallon) between the time I went to bed and the time I woke up. It turns out that oil prices actually dropped 10% on Monday due to... well, honestly I couldn't really care why. Suffice to say, the price of crude dropped 10% while the price of gasoline went up 25%!

Why?

Because they can!

That's basically the gist of this very interesting article I found.

Essentially the companies that make the oil into gasoline are working less and charging more. Good for them... their profit margin is soaring.

Bad for every person who owns a vehicle that burns fossil fuels.

This is why I can't wait for some valid alternative fuels to come to market, no matter what the source... biofuels, algal based oil, hydrogen, or something else. Better yet, some electric vehicles that are honestly affordable, not artificially so.

In the mean time, BOHICA!

"Greed Is No Longer Good"

I've been meaning to put this link up since forever ago, but have just been so busy I kept putting it off. The link has been sitting, unused, on a tab in my Firefox since the 12th of February.

Autobloggreen.com has an article up with the transcript of a speech given by John Krafcik, the President & CEO of Hyundai Motor America.

He talks about why the automotive business has been so much maligned in recent years and how their actions have caused them to be perceived as "bad guys who care little about our own customers and the world we live in."

No, really?

He goes on to say "Another revolutionary step we can take is to embrace improved fuel economy as an indisputable social good. There's really no point in arguing about the veracity of climate change when you stop to consider the finite supply of oil, and the turmoil that our present consumption habit is fueling in the Middle East. It's abundantly clear that improved fuel economy makes sense for our industry and for our country. [...] As an industry, we need to take a longer term view of our environmental strategies. That means stepping up and getting ahead of the regulators where that makes sense. We think that time is now."

Now that is interesting. And I can't help but applaud an auto exec who has the guts to get on a stage and make a statement like that in public, especially in North America.

The full transcript of his speech can be read HERE.

And remember kids... don't buy a hybrid to save money!

According to this article at autoblog.com, hybrids not only cost more to buy, but they also cost more to fix. And that's just general repairs, with no mention made of battery pack costs.

On the bright side, if your Prius does break down and you can't afford to fix it because the monthly payments on it's over-inflated sticker price are draining your bank account, you could always just leave it parked in your driveway and use it to power your fridge, stove, or other appliances.

Holy Crap! Mitsubishi pulling out of Dakar rallying!

I'm shocked!

After watching this years absolutely amazing rally, featuring a battle of the diesel titans between Mitsubishi and VW, as well as the privateer BMW X-Raids, I'm stunned to read that Mitsu are pulling out of cross country rallying.

This was their first year running diesels (compared to Volkswagen who've run them for years), and despite some setbacks, as well as finishing off the podium, I'd sincerely hoped they'd be back to challenge VW in 2010.

Source.

Lexus Europe: No Hybrids Here!

This is too funny...

Autobloggreen.com

Short version: "Our hybrid really isn't significantly better than our diesel, so we aren't going to bother with the trouble of selling it to you."

Europeans are smart, and they don't waste time with greenwashing... one drivetrain is just much simpler and more cost effective than two.

EVs & Diesels in Detroit

I've been closely following autobloggreen.com for the past couple of days as they cover the eco side of the Detroit International Auto Show. It's pretty cool to see the concepts, but even cooler to see the cars that are actually going to be found in dealer showroom this year.

You can check it out yourself HERE, or click the links below to specific articles.

MB Unveils Concept BlueZero

The Lotus... er, I mean Dodge Circuit
57 Miles Per Gallon Roadster: The BlueSport from VW

More Pics of VW's Diesel Performance Roadster

Audi A3 TDI Coming to US Dealers in '09

ED smart (a poor choice of acronyms)

Fisker Karma & Karma-S (will these ever been seen on a road near you?)

LAME!

(Warning: I'm about to throw all professionalism out the window!)

If it wasn't bad enough that lame duck Prius drivers cause traffic congestion because of their maddeningly slow driving habits, they're now getting to park right near the doors along-side the legitimately handicapped people.

According to this article at usatoday.com hybrid drivers in some places are getting "parking perks".

LAME!

And hypocritical too!

Why should a hybrid driver arbitrarily get advantageous parking when there are plenty of conventional vehicles that get as good, or better, fuel mileage? Without even trying I can name a couple of hybrids that get worse mileage than my gasoline powered sedan which isn't even a particularly economical model. I could name a dozen or more cars that can easily better that majority of hybrids on our roads.

Like I said... hypocritical. It's another pathetic case of hybrid propaganda, greenwashing, and BS environmental image favoritism.

Clash Of The (Diesel) Titans

The 2009 edition of the infamous Dakar Rally (formerly Paris-Dakar) kicks off in just over 6 hours from the time I'm writing this. Competing in that event will be Volkswagen with their TDI Touareg, and for the first time, Mitsubishi in the clean diesel powered Racing Lancer. They formerly entered this rally-raid event in a conventional gasoline powered Pajero. This is the first time two clean diesels will be facing off in the Dakar and it's shaping up to be an epic battle between these two powerhouses.

And just take a look at this video of the Racing Lancer!



That's about as much fun in a 4 wheeled vehicle as can be had!