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Diesel will be with us for a very long time yet, even if all diesel buses were to be swapped for electric. -- Diesel locomotives (train engines) and many ships

Diesel will be with us for a very long time yet, even if all diesel buses were to be swapped for electric. -- Diesel locomotives (train engines) and many ships use diesel generators to power electric motors -- this setup is useful for applications where high torque is required at low RPMs (even down to 0 RPM) -- Many grid support power plants use diesel generators (especially for emergency backup) -- Diesel-powered trucks, tractors, and heavy equipment -- Military vehicles

IB885588 8y ago
The first place to phase it out of is densely populated areas, because of all the particulate matter pollution which is particularly bad for people's health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5352477/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5352477/
- EADGBE 8y ago
  Here we go again, putting people ahead of mother earth. /s
- Gibbon1 8y ago
  Friends comment is people constantly complain about maintenance trucks, because they have to run the diesel engine to power hydraulics.
  - _ph_ 8y ago
    Thats one beauty of a proper electric truck: you can operate all the power equipment off the electric.
Gibbon1 8y ago
> train engines, tractors, and heavy equipment Run the numbers noting that all these have much lower power to weight ratio's than buses and cars. Numbers say diesel is more expensive on a total cost of ownership basis.
moonlighter 8y ago
Ships not only use diesel for generators but for propulsion in general; many engines found in recreational mid and large motoryachts are basically truck diesel engines adapted for a harsher maritime environment. Volvo Penta, Detroits, Caterpillar are very popular. Marine diesel is taxed differently and is somewhat cheaper than truck diesel (and has a different color due to a different dye added; marine diesel is red, truck diesel is yellow). Diesel is also safer than gasoline in terms of accidental ignition and explosion since the ingnition temperature is much higher than gasoline. Diesel fuel flash points vary between 52 to 96C (126 to 205F)
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>Diesel locomotives (train engines) and many ships use diesel generators to power electric motors -- this setup is useful for applications where high torque is required at low RPMs (even down to 0 RPM) Few ships are diesel electric. It's inherently fairly inefficient compared to mechanical power transmission. Diesel electric is mostly used in locomotives and heavy mining equipment where a mechanical drive-train would be overly complex or inconvenient to package (imagine the drive-train for a freight locomotive) but the machine enough driving that hydraulics is too inefficient (whereas something like a mining shovel doesn't do much driving and the market). >Diesel-powered trucks, tractors, and heavy equipment For stuff that's small enough to transport on a semi and doesn't need to go highway speed it's really hard to beat hydraulics for low cost and low cost of ownership. A slightly more efficient drive-train doesn't really make it far up the important features list when you're gonna be pushing dirt and your maintenance schedule and how hard on equipment your employees are dominates your longer term cost of ownership. Indoor stuff will go more electric but it's been electric for awhile, it'll just get better/lighter. >Military vehicles Not gonna happen anytime soon except some specialty applications (small inshore subs come to mind, SDVs are already electric). Military stuff needs to stay light for a variety of reasons and the last thing they need are a bunch of volatile batteries that need to be protected (whereas a fuel tank of diesel can act like armor to some extent).
- fpoling 8y ago
  US tanks use turbine, not Diesel engines. More military could have used those, especially as infra-red signature of turbines is lower, but it is chicken and egg problem. The present market is small and for tanks a turbine initially developed for helicopters were adopted. For other vehicles entirely new development is necessary. And it is very costly.
  - davidgould 8y ago
    > infra-red signature of turbines is lower Can you provide a source for this? It has been my understanding that turbines had more of an infra-red signature due to the hot exhaust and high mass flow.
ahje 8y ago
At least in northern Europe, Diesel engines are critical to the agricultural industry. Considering some farmers are still using 40 year-old tractors around here, I doubt the Diesel engines will go away any time soon. But one of the advantages of Diesel engines are that they aren't really that picky when it comes to fuel. I don't think the engines are going anywhere, but we're probably going to see more and more non-fossil Diesel alternatives being used in the future.

IB885588 8y ago

The first place to phase it out of is densely populated areas, because of all the particulate matter pollution which is particularly bad for people's health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5352477/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5352477/

EADGBE 8y ago
Here we go again, putting people ahead of mother earth. /s
Gibbon1 8y ago
Friends comment is people constantly complain about maintenance trucks, because they have to run the diesel engine to power hydraulics.
- _ph_ 8y ago
  Thats one beauty of a proper electric truck: you can operate all the power equipment off the electric.

Gibbon1 8y ago

> train engines, tractors, and heavy equipment Run the numbers noting that all these have much lower power to weight ratio's than buses and cars. Numbers say diesel is more expensive on a total cost of ownership basis.

moonlighter 8y ago

Ships not only use diesel for generators but for propulsion in general; many engines found in recreational mid and large motoryachts are basically truck diesel engines adapted for a harsher maritime environment. Volvo Penta, Detroits, Caterpillar are very popular. Marine diesel is taxed differently and is somewhat cheaper than truck diesel (and has a different color due to a different dye added; marine diesel is red, truck diesel is yellow). Diesel is also safer than gasoline in terms of accidental ignition and explosion since the ingnition temperature is much higher than gasoline. Diesel fuel flash points vary between 52 to 96C (126 to 205F)

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

>Diesel locomotives (train engines) and many ships use diesel generators to power electric motors -- this setup is useful for applications where high torque is required at low RPMs (even down to 0 RPM) Few ships are diesel electric. It's inherently fairly inefficient compared to mechanical power transmission. Diesel electric is mostly used in locomotives and heavy mining equipment where a mechanical drive-train would be overly complex or inconvenient to package (imagine the drive-train for a freight locomotive) but the machine enough driving that hydraulics is too inefficient (whereas something like a mining shovel doesn't do much driving and the market). >Diesel-powered trucks, tractors, and heavy equipment For stuff that's small enough to transport on a semi and doesn't need to go highway speed it's really hard to beat hydraulics for low cost and low cost of ownership. A slightly more efficient drive-train doesn't really make it far up the important features list when you're gonna be pushing dirt and your maintenance schedule and how hard on equipment your employees are dominates your longer term cost of ownership. Indoor stuff will go more electric but it's been electric for awhile, it'll just get better/lighter. >Military vehicles Not gonna happen anytime soon except some specialty applications (small inshore subs come to mind, SDVs are already electric). Military stuff needs to stay light for a variety of reasons and the last thing they need are a bunch of volatile batteries that need to be protected (whereas a fuel tank of diesel can act like armor to some extent).

fpoling 8y ago
US tanks use turbine, not Diesel engines. More military could have used those, especially as infra-red signature of turbines is lower, but it is chicken and egg problem. The present market is small and for tanks a turbine initially developed for helicopters were adopted. For other vehicles entirely new development is necessary. And it is very costly.
- davidgould 8y ago
  > infra-red signature of turbines is lower Can you provide a source for this? It has been my understanding that turbines had more of an infra-red signature due to the hot exhaust and high mass flow.

ahje 8y ago

At least in northern Europe, Diesel engines are critical to the agricultural industry. Considering some farmers are still using 40 year-old tractors around here, I doubt the Diesel engines will go away any time soon. But one of the advantages of Diesel engines are that they aren't really that picky when it comes to fuel. I don't think the engines are going anywhere, but we're probably going to see more and more non-fossil Diesel alternatives being used in the future.