History of Diesel Engines
Over the years, Motors technology has been working to provide a engine configurations that promise increased fuel economy and power.As a result today we are enjoying the fruits of diesel technology revolution.
Here in United States, a great history has been observed by Diesel.As I remember it was 1980 when General Motors modified their product vehicle named 350ci gas to run on diesel fuel.However the result was not at the expected level but still it offered better fuel economy. The demerits it brings was that it was very slow and not very reliable.
In the same year(1980) luck favoured somewhat with Mercedes Benz with an array of vehicles available with diesel engines. Amazing durability was offered by these great vehicles however they were rough, noisy,and smoked quite a bit.Volkswagon offered diesel as well, although they had a habit for spewing blue smoke from the tail pipe.
In 1990, More modified, smoother and powerful diesel vehicles were presented by Benz and Volkwagon. All were better than the last but still these all lacked the horsepower and some more merits that was expected by many.
The hard working comes to a fruitful result in 20th century. Today we have all Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Volkswagon, Ford, and many other in Diesel version throughout the world. These newer engines benefit from hundreds of technical innovations. There are several diesels in Europe that offer better acceleration than their gasoline counter parts.
For instance-BMW’s 120d has 163bhp, and its pickup is 0 – 60 in under 8 seconds with mieage of 49.6 per gallon.
Another best example of today’s diesel car is C320 CDI SE by Benz. It has224bhp, and over 360 lb foot of torque. This car gets just under 48 mpg on the highway, with an acceleration of 0 – 60 in under 7 seconds. You can’t find such an unique blend of fuel economy and excellent performance in any gasoline engine throughout North America.
In North America,still one reason why diesels haven’t caught on,comes down to one word – sulfur. There is too much sulphur in the diesel here.This cheap grade of diesel fuel will run havoc on the more sophisticated diesels offered overseas and cause an increase in emissions.
However, all of us hope for this problem to be solved by refiners soon by producing ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. This will definately help to reduce the content of sulfur from 500ppm to 15ppm.
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