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Originally Posted by rick3000
I agree. Diesels cars are much better than any hybrid alternative, and can go more than an electric cars 120 miles range. GM and Ford have diesels in Europe but not in the US and know they are paying the price. (They just asked the US for a $15 billion loan.)
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There are two reasons we are not getting the diesel cars.
1- our rediculous trucking industry consumes so much diesel that could be saved had we a realistic rail system, like europe and
2-the amount of gasoline and diesel from a barrel of oil is not adjustable. We get x number gallons of gas and x number gallons diesel from a barrel of oil and it is ALL already spoken for. More diesel cars would just run the demand, and price, up so high on diesel that it would more than offset the mpg savings.
I'm too tired to go looking for a link tonight, but the number of miles a train can take a ton of freight on a gallon of diesel will make you sick.
A new rail system would go a long, long way to solving our energy problems. Run trains hub to hub and deliver via truck from there. Set up the stations like a modern airport. There's no reason modern technologies and computer controlled inventory movement cannot make the load/unload slicker than owl dukey. Pay Walmart to run it. Their warehouse, load/unload systems are phenominal and a major reason they are able to sell at the prices they do.