Comments on: VW TDI or Toyota Prius- Which is really “Greener”?

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:30:44 +0000

I think Hybrids are the future, but with that being said, they aren’t so green yet. Most people forget that the batteries that Hyrbids use require a huge amount of energy to manfacturer – which offsets their efficiency.

With that being said, as Hybrids become more popular their batteries could be recycled which could go towards repairing existing cars or newer cars.

As it stands right now the TDI is by far the greener choice (comsumes less gas, has no batteries – hence less CO2 to make)…. but who knows? A Diesel hyrbid would be very good!

BTW I don’t think anyone would throw away the batteries for Hybrids… the core charges alone would be a hefy sum of money.

By: Manfred Feuser

Manfred Feuser — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:05:26 +0000

Hallo Herr Manfred Feuser,
ist schon richtig meine Familie
geht zurueck so um 200 jahre in der Eifel. Ich wohne hier in Australien seit 40 Jahren.
An sich im Raum Koeln und Umgebung gibt es eine Anzahl Feuser. Ich wuerde mich gerne mit Ihnen darueber unterhalten
Meine Adresse koennen Sie auf Photo Net USA bekommen. Oder private Miteilung Leica User Forum Canfred.
Ich habe gerade gesehen Diesel in Deutschland wird sehr teuer.
Hier an sich auch , ich denke es wird sich beruhigen wenn der Verbrauch absinkt.
Gruesse Manfred

By: Manfred Feuser

Manfred Feuser — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:52:53 +0000

Hallo, Manfred Feuser,

habe hier Ihren Namen gefunden – ich heisse auch so.

bitte teilen Sie mir doch mal mit, ob Ihre Familie aus Deutschland stammt
danke und Gruss

Manfred Feuser

By: brian

brian — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:45:13 +0000

Another benefit to diesel is that it takes less oil to produce a gallon of diesel as compared to a gallon of gasoline. That is to say, gasoline is much more refined than diesel, so it takes more oil to make that gallon of gas. Also at the refinery when refining diesel you are polluting less into the air than the gasoline. So if we are polluting less at the refinery for diesel, and the diesel cars are getting almost as clean at every measure than gasoline, it seems to me that diesel is the greener choice. Not to mention a diesel could run on other energy sources more readily than gassers. Also those hybrid batteries are filled with caustic materials. If cel batteries are such an environmental hazard, aren’t hybrid batteries going to be even worse?

Go diesel!

Now if someone made an aircooled diesel for my old Volkswagen I’d be soooooooooo happy.

By: Manfred Feuser

Manfred Feuser — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:19:26 +0000

Its clear now oil engines are the immediate future. I have been driving a Merc. 300D for nearly twenty years , the car is still in use now. However the car I replaced it with is the eyeopener Merc. 270 CDI propelling a 1550 kg car at speed limit using no more than 6.4lt open road. Clean too and an improvement of 30% in comparising to my old 300D.
Electric or part electric cars will never be the answer ,
batterie technology rules this out.

By: Scavenger

Scavenger — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 03:47:56 +0000

Yes, it is amazing how diesel technology has progressed in recent years. Especially European diesel technology. Audi even has used them in racing, with success. What is so ridiculous is that the environmental movement has snubbed diesel technology in favour of a vastly more complicated and inferior hybrid technology that needs government subsidies.

By: LC

LC — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:59:53 +0000

Thank you! Finally, someone else who sees the flaw in hybrid technology.

Not only does hybrid technology not get as good gas mileage as TDIs, their “greenness” is also greatly exaggerated.

Hybrids tend to work only in city driving, which is great if you only drive around in the city but once you get on the highway, the hybrid turns off and runs on full gasoline. Plus, how do you dispose of hybrid batteries? Exactly.

With diesels, the use of particulate filters plus technologies such as Bluetec make some diesels cleaner than their gasoline counterparts. And since diesel burns better in the engine, it also burns cleaner (gasoline does not burn as clean as diesel). Not only that, but you also get very good torque and its a dream to drive on the highway. The old stereotype fo the hugh black smoke cloud in old diesel cars are all a thing of the past (those were caused by the usage of catalytic converters design primarily for gasoline-powered cars).

Diesels don’t get the attention they deserve. Thanks for bringing this to light.