Some of this boils down to the practical application. Yarns ago dump trucks
and farther back all trucks had gasoline engines. All heavy trucks are
powered by diesels due to engine life and economy dictated the change.
We use 3/4 or 1 ton trucks as required by the contracts with the oil
companies. Gasoline trucks must be no more than 3 years old with diesels
allowed 5 years. Most of the time we have electrical or instrumentation
tools and materials in the trucks, so lightly loaded. The new emsisions
diesels are not getting much better economy than the gasoline trucks with
all else equal. Add in the fact that oil and filter changes are 2 to 3
times the cost. Now if you are pulling a trailer on a regular basis as you
are, a diesel is the only way to go. It comes down to application and the
correct equipment for the job. Light duty is not likely the place for
diesel engines used in urban settings.
Diesel engines converted to run on natural gas in urban delivery and city
buses where fuel can be readily available and close will come into
popularity in time due to the clean burn. Fuel economy on NG is better
than on converted gas engines due to the compression ratio. NG can be used
with 15:1 to 16:1 CR.
As Paul stated, all diesels will be equipped eventually.

Dale Davies

The Rotary Engine News Letter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://www.rotaryeng.net
You Tube http://tinyurl.com/beqqxas
Copyright 1998-2013 All world wide rights reserved.