Jonathan Luttrell

Ms.Hofmann
English 1102-044
31 March 2014
Note to Reader
So far I worked on making my essay more inquiry based. Before it was very research essay in
tone. It didnt show what Ive been researching. The main change was the introduction of my
essay. This introduction was favored by the class. What part of my essay is the weakest?
Diesel in the United States
Ever wonder when the United States will get more fuel efficient cars? Do you like you
gas guzzling cars? Ever see most European cars? Have you noticed that they run on something
most Americans see as frightening? Yes thats diesel. I for one noticed how most of Europe has
access of more fuel efficient diesels whereas the United States has limited access to clean diesels.
Why is it that the United States does not have more diesel cars?
To most people in the United States, diesel powered cars are misunderstood mainly
because we do not understand the intricacies for which they work. As it turns out, the diesel
engine and the gasoline engine are very similar but work in two entirely different ways. Through
research I have found that the main difference is ignition and fuel injection. Strictly regarding a
gasoline engine, the fuel has to be mixed with air to achieve the correct air to fuel ratio to ignite
properly. Then once the fuel is injected into the engine, a spark plug then ignites the fuel, thus
powering your gasoline car. I have found that in a diesel engine there are no spark plugs, so you
wonder, how do you ignite it? Diesel engines do ignition in the simplest way. Instead of injecting
the air-mixed-fuel, a diesel engine injects the air into the engine first. The engine then
compresses the air, which then heats the air then ignites the fuel. To make this process work, the
engine has to inject the fuel directly into the engine to be ignited by the hot air. Whereas a
gasoline engine already has the compressed fuel in the cylinder. The only downfall that has been
discovered in a diesel engine, is when the engine is cold, because the air inside the combustion
chamber is not warm enough to ignite the fuel. Similar to a gasoline engine, both need time to
warm up when cold, but for diesels this is especially difficult. On some new and mostly older
diesel engines, manufactures had to employ a glow plug to solve this. A glow plug is a special
heating element inside the engine which heats up the cylinder to make the air heat up hot enough
to ignite the fuel. Most manufactures have fixed this with more advanced ECM (engine
computer) which can help measure when to inject the fuel based of the temperature of the air. If
the air inside the cylinder is too cold, the ECM will delay the fuel injection until the air reaches
optimal temperatures. The modern diesel engine is very efficient and surpasses many United
States hybrid cars in fuel efficiency.
You may be wondering that if this form of fuel is so effective, why is it not in the United
States? The main reason happens to be, the government. While most places around the world are
reaping the benefits like Germany, which 41.9% of cars sold in 2012 were diesel cars (Davies).
Volkswagens European division makes a version of the Golf called the Polo BluMotion diesel
which averages 60.3 miles per gallon in comparison to the United States Prius, which only gets
45 miles per gallon on the highway. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources here in
the United States has made great strides towards making diesel better by introducing ultra-low
sulfur diesel fuel. This new fuel type has helped reduce CO
2
and sulfur emissions whilst
simultaneously improving fuel efficiency. The chairmen of the committee Senator Jeff
Bingaman is not sold yet on diesel. Though the Senator acknowledges the great gas mileage
obtained by diesel, he does not know if the United States could support a transition to diesel.
Currently year after year, Gulf oil refineries get shut down from hurricanes. Along with the
hurricanes in the gulf, The United States has not built a new diesel refinery in 30 years, thus
making the situation for diesel owners bleak. The low supply and high demand of fuel, and
forces such as natural disasters have taken a toll on the price of diesel. In 2005, hurricane Katrina
decimated our pipe lines and refineries and this caused a widespread panic because our once low
fuel prices, sky rocketed. During this time, we saw diesel cars re-enter the market mainly from
Volkswagen. When diesel demand got higher, so did the price. What does not help the price, is
the current 24.4 cent Federal Excise tax then the State averaged tax of 22 cents on top of that
(What consumers should know). The cost of diesel reflects the 64% of the price from the cost of
crude oil. With OPEC driving up the cost of crude oil, the United States needs to greatly expand
its fuel reserves to allow for a less foreign fuel reliant United States. There are supporters in the
government who favor diesel. Senator Jeff Session of Alabama is a believer in diesel. Sessions
has done test himself between a Volkswagen Jetta diesel and a Toyota Prius. Sessions noted that
not only did the Jetta surpass the Prius in fuel efficiency it surpassed it in producing less CO
2
emissions as well. Conclusions like this have left Sessions and other questioning why the
government does not implement more efforts into making the United States more diesel friendly.
The number one way for any product to succeed is through consumer buying, and for
diesel cars most consumers of the 1970s and 1980s were turned off. The reason or origin for
negativity was from the Arab oil embargo in 1973. In 1973 the United States thought only big
V8s were the way to go and did not think about fuel conservation. Then the embargo brought
motorist to their knees with the shock of fuel prices. Companies like Honda brought smaller fuel
friendly cars and Ford competed with the Pinto. After the war ended the fuel supply stabilized
and the government enacted more policies to protect the people for the next crisis. When that
fuel crisis hit again in the 80s General Motors thought that they would one-up everyone with a
sloppy conversion of their 5.7 V8 into a diesel for their Oldsmobile. This diesel was welcomed
poorly by the market. It did not help either, that the Oldsmobile made a pathetic 90 horse power,
ran rough, was loud, and made black soot out of the exhaust. This gave diesel this stigma where
no one would attempt to go near one for years. Throughout this period, it was found that
Mercedes made some notable models that still kept diesel alive in the United States, but more of
die heart diesel enthusiast were the only ones driving them. To this day, I know many people
who are against diesel and refuse to try them because of the memories of the awful ones made in
the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, America did not learn its lesson from the two fuel crisis that
it had and shortly reverted back to its old ways of enormous, gas guzzling V8s.
One of the few successful diesel cars that came out of the fuel crises was the Mercedes
230D, this car is cherished by many for its high fuel efficiency and its ability to be converted to
BIO-diesel. Owners like Sidney Copland, who is a food broker in Ashville that found out that
driving back and forth was extremely gas consuming. Thats when someone told Sydney about
BIO-fuel. Working around food had a great advantage for being able to retrieve the barrels of
used fryer-oil that she then takes back to her garage and turns into BIO-fuel. Sydney essentially
drives for free. Sydney has commented that she has been sat out in her car for hours doing work
with her car idling because her car burns very little fuel sitting there, so it doesnt even matter
that she has it on. BIO-diesel provides great opportunities to those who can have refineries in
their homes. This allows users to drive for free!
In conclusion, diesel engines are extremely fuel efficient and have remained that way
throughout their long trek through history. Though unsuccessful at times, modern diesels are so
efficient, that cars like the Audi R10, have won the Le Manns races so many times, it got banned
from being in the race because it outranked the other cars in efficiency in the twenty-four hour
race. Efficiency has trickled down from pedigree race cars, all the way down to economy based
cars like the Volkswagen Polo Diesel with its astounding 60.3 miles per gallon. While the rest of
the world enjoys diesel, the United States must rely on its very select number of cars until the
government is fully on board with diesel.