In AOL auto news, Rex Roy did a critical review and analysis of all the three types of car engine technologies. Comparisons were made between Diesel vs Hybrid vs. Gas... Let us take a closer look at these three diffrent technologies...
... Diesel engine has a compression ignition cycle, which uses high compression ratios in the combustion chamber to ignite the fuel-air charge.... The gasoline-burning internal combustion engine uses spark plug to fire up the gasoline-air combination.... The Hybrid vehicle uses a combination of electric motors and internal combustion engines to generate power to move the car...
... Modern Diesel engines with high-pressure direct fuel injection and special exhaust emissions systems are quite good and reliable. The price differential between gasoline and diesel fuel is also decreasing. The 'mpg' is better for diesel. However, the price of a diesel engine is a bit higher, but not that much more considering the better mileage and the higher powerful torque that it has. Torque is the extra power 'umph' that the engine provides when accelerating.... The diesel Volkswagon Jetta was recently awarded "Green Car of the Year". In the past hybrids used to win the awards. Jetta's clean exhaust and exceptional fuel economy was the winning factor (30 mpg city, 41 mpg highway). Other diesel cars have performed well too...
... The hybrids can operate on electric power for short distances at city-driving speed. Then the internal combustion engine takes over. Prius has 50 mpg city and 48 mpg highway. Other makes of hybrids give good mileage too. These hybrids benefit more from city driving.... However, hybrids lack the torque 'umph' that diesels have and drive slugglishly. One has to get used to the driving behavior of these cars. The brakes on some hybrids feel a little different, because when the brake pedal is applied a regenerative motor is recapturing the vehicle's kinetic energy, turning it into electricity to store in on-board battery. The power steering is also electric driven, giving a different feeling too. So the driving is a bit odd in some respects comapred to a regular car. Overall the systems control is also complex... The intial costs of the hybrids is high too....
.... Now that the traditional internal combustion engines are also getting to be more green based on their improved gas mileage and lower costs. "Technologies such as dual variable valve timing, reduced pumping losses, and improved engine control systems will be where mileage improvements in internal combustion engines come from," Toyota's Dan Yerace, a senior powertrain engineer, said. "Also, the trend toward more forward gears in transmission will contribute to mileage gains." By adding more gears to the automatic transmissions, engines can run more effeciently at any given speed, thus increase fuel economy...
... This analysis points to the fact that each of the three technologies have their pluses and minuses. It may be that we are going to have good choices avalaible to us in the near future.
...
Comments
Leave a comment