I hauled some of these to dealerships when I was driving a truck. When I retire and look at RVs, I will consider these Sprinters. They are also sold with Freightliner name plates. If you want to see them on the road, look for FedEx delivery drivers.
Don’t forget that diesel engines are made to last longer than gasoling engines (we’re talking millions of miles) and usually have longer intervals between maintenance.
You might want to look around a bit. At least where I live many gas stations have a diesel pump off to one side, or sometimes just on one island in a large station, not very conspicuous but they are there. I guess in more urban areas that might not be the case, but certainly in rural and suburban areas you can usually find it.
"Diesel distribution is set up for the trucking industry. The average truck can hold 150 gallons of diesel fuel. At 8 miles per gallon, a truck can go about 1,400 miles between fill-ups. The average car can only go about 300 miles between fill-ups. If I had a diesel car right now, I would have to drive way out of my way to buy fuel. However, I can get gasoline easily.
We need to expand diesel distribution before it becomes practical for everyday use."
I really don’t have any problem finding diesel fuel, almost every highway exit has diesel, and most places have “car diesel” pumps with small nozzles in the main fueling area. Occasionally I have to around to the truck area, but 9/10 of the time I can just pull up and pay at the pump with the other cars. There are a ton of diesel pickups around here so about 80% of the stations have diesel.
Well, maybe diesel distribution is better than I thought. There are more diesel pumps around than I thought, now that I look.
I recast my vote as “diesel cars have a bad reputation.” Too many people out there believe that diesel engines are loud and smelly. Not more than 4 years ago I saw a new VW Beetle diesel. The rear end of the car was coated in soot. However, the last time I drove a Dodge/Freightliner Sprinter, it was so quiet that I could not hear the engine running at idle. It also ran as smooth as a V-6 gas burner.
Until the diesel stereotype fades, there just won’t be enough demand. Also, not many people know about the durability advantage of diesel engines.
“Until the diesel stereotype fades, there just won’t be enough demand. Also, not many people know about the durability advantage of diesel engines.”
I think you are correct, it will take a while in the U.S. for them to become mainstream. Maybe a generation.
Is anyone on this forum running (or considering) running a diesel on waste vegetable oil? I’m contemplating it and would like some unbiased feedback. The advantages seem many and the drawbacks few (unless you just don’t like getting your hands dirty, in which case, what are you doing on a site like this?!).
When I filled up tonight in southern Minnesota, unleaded was $2.65 and diesel was $3.09. That’s a significant difference. Maybe different in other parts of the world, but that’s Minnesota.
Well even in your area with diesel selling at $3.09…you’ll be FAR MORE miles per dollar on diesel then on gas. For them to be equal…Diesel would have to sell for around $4/gal.
Personally, I wouldn’t do it. The viscosity of WVO is significantly higher than diesel, which can be an issue for the injection pumps. There are also concerns with coking within the engine. I also don’t understand how anyone can claim to remove all the contaminates from WVO, especially the dissolved salts, sugars, and animal fats. If anything, I would run commercially available bio-diesel, although it hasn’t been endorsed by some (most?) engine manufacturers. Some folks are running homemade bio-diesel from WVO, which is a pretty complex process (and potentially risky). The worst would be running a single tank (unheated) WVO system. Some folks claim success with two tank “conversions,” but they are fairly expensive and really hack up the car. Personally, I would never buy a diesel engine/car that had run WVO.