Scotty, I was looking but I didn’t see much information about hybrid diesel engines. Wouldn’t that be more advantageous than CNG, LNG or EV?
Welp, the Citroën DS5 Diesel Hybrid failed because it wasn't any better than just a regular diesel.
The DS5 was rated at 61.6 MPG US on the combined cycle
While a cheap diesel family sedan, like the Renault Fluence was rated at 51.1 MPG US.
And some diesels, like the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion is rated at like 73.5 MPG US.
I recently drove a Renault Clio dCi EDC Estate (stunning car, I love these) and it returned 60mpg US (5mpg shy of what it was rated at) it had a start-stop system and although it's just a small wagon, it performed as well as a Diesel hybrid.
In other words, diesels are so efficient that adding a hybrid system doesn't make sense.
EV
Welp my EV, so far, has averaged 16.5 kWh for 100km (26.4 kWh for 100 miles) in sports mode.
With US average pricing (23 cents per kWh) that's $6.07 per 100 miles.
At $3.81 per gallon (US national average),
$6.07 buys you 1.59 gallons so to match the price efficiency on an EV,
an ICE car would need to drive 100 miles on 1.59 gal,
which is just 62.89 miles per gallon.
Which is not that good even, a Toyota Camry Hybrid is rated at 53 mpg -
so "EV"s aren't cheap, it's really in the same realm as hybrids when it comes to "per mile" pricing*
(*In the US. But where I live it's significantly cheaper, unless you use rapid chargers.)
CNG
The cost to covert a passenger car to CNG is so high that unless you're living in very specific areas, it wouldn't make financial sense as to recoup your investment you'd need to drive a lot.
That sounds like an oxymoron lol.
Probably bc people don't want a stinky diesel with their hybrid, I can see that being a tough sell, functionally yeah it would work nicely.
But right now the biggest car markets in the world are pushing for EV's, so EV's it is. (China & US)
Even for semi? I was speaking mainly to that but I didn’t specify.
Even for semi? I was speaking mainly to that but I didn’t specify.
I really don’t know, but I heard something like a hybrid semi (whether gas or diesel) would work the opposite of a hybrid for a car.
It supposedly takes so much energy to get a semi moving, that it is more efficient for the gas/diesel engine to get it moving first, and then the hybrid electric motor to keep it moving.
Usually, the electric motor would start up the engine and get the car going before the gas/diesel engine would take over.
On top of that, I’m not so sure if it calculates out (yet) for a huge battery weight and energy output, for widespread adoption. Who knows, maybe it is already making a dent in the market.
I work in Mass Transit and we currently have approximately 55 NABI Diesel-Electric Hybrid buses in our fleet, 10 of them articulated being articulated buses. The fuel mileage is only marginally better than a regular Diesel bus and the maintenance and repair costs are WAY higher. For example, a dual power inverter module for an Allison hybrid system costs $60K.
That's why we are switching to Battery-Electric buses since they have lower operating costs and are more cost-effective than a Hybrid bus. But even that is a failure because we have 12 MY2021 Proterra buses that are always in the shop. As a result, the highest mileage 2021 Proterra electric bus in our fleet has 40K miles. By comparison, some of our 2020 Gillig diesel buses are cracking 200K miles. And to add insult to injury, Proterra filed for bankruptcy and we have a 30-bus order with them and already have the first six units delivered. And those six 2023 Proterras are already having problems and haven't hit the road yet.
