Clean Diesel

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Ron Coogan, with greencar.com. Today, we're going to talk about clean diesel cars. Now, some people think that's an oxymoron. How could diesel be clean? But things have changed. The image in most people's minds of course would be buses or trucks, big plumes of soot that are emitting from the, from the exhaust, and that's true. That's how it's been for years. But diesel vehicles have come a long way. The new generation of passenger cars uses the most advanced technology and approaches levels that are were unimaginable in emissions just a few years ago. Diesel vehicles are on their way to becoming near zero emission, just like internal combustion gasoline cars are on the way to becoming near zero emission. It's amazing, but it's true. The advantage of a diesel vehicle is obvious. It gets thirty percent better fuel efficiency. That means thirty percent less fuel you're going to have to pay for to put in your tank. The other advantage is that fuel efficiency corresponds pretty directly with greenhouse gas emissions, so if you're decreasing thirty percent of your fuel use you're also decreasing a like amount in greenhouse gas emissions. That's critically important today with vehicles. Clean diesel vehicles are being explored by everyone. Of course, traditional diesel makers, the ones who have been here a long time with diesel in the market, like Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz have clean diesel vehicles, but other untraditional automakers who have never offered diesel in the U.S. market are coming. Advances in diesel technology have come a long way in recent years. Volkswagen in particular has come out with all new injection systems for their diesel models. They were off the market for a couple of years, and returned in force with diesel vehicles that meet all fifty state emissions regulations. That's pretty amazing when you when you examine it, because California and the states that have adopted California emissions have very stringent emissions regulations. To do that with diesel is a real accomplishment. Other strategies are at play because diesel can have higher oxides of nitrogen emissions than gasoline vehicles in many cases. It's harder to make larger engines meet the the requirements than smaller engines, so BlueTec technology has been developed by a consortium of Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and Audi to develop a mixture called AdBlue that's added into the the engine, into the combustion through computer control on the car, and it cuts those nitrous oxide emissions and allows that also to meet fifty state emissions regulations. Diesel vehicles are coming in very large numbers. They'll be a competitor to hybrid, and they will be at less cost than hybrid. It'll be interesting to see where the market goes. In the meantime, we really do expect diesel vehicles to come to the highway with a vengeance in very large numbers."