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Diesel powered automobiles have somewhat been shunned till now for being less environment friendly, but given the recent surge in gas prices worldwide, could the demand for clean and fuel efficient diesel engines rise.

Over the last couple of days the automobile industry has seen a lot of action with the increases in oil prices, a decline in demand for bigger vehicles (SUVs), increased interest in the smaller vehicles such as Smart For Two and the news of a breakthrough by the Japanese company Genepax for developing a water-powered car. However, there still appears to be sometime left for the innovations and breakthroughs to hit the markets full-on.

When it comes to diesel, prices of diesel might not be the ultimate quality to attract car buyers towards automobiles driven by diesel engines. For instance, around the beginning of this month the average price per gallon of diesel oil in the U.S. was US$4.70, which was in fact higher than the cost of gas by 73 cents. Furthermore, it's also an increase of over US$1.90 from last year. All in all the diesel prices too are on the rise and why shouldn't they, when diesel too is derived from crude oil. As the price of crude oil varies, the price of diesel too should change with it.



So Where Do The Benefits Lie?

Apparently, they lie in cost savings due to more efficient and cleaner diesel engines being developed. Consider this, diesel engine manufactures are aiming to produce auto engines that are efficient enough to provide between 30% to 40% fuel economy. Thus even if consumers paid 10% more for premium diesel, given the engines' fuel economy it would still be profitable for them.

Many big companies such as Mercedes, Chrysler LLC, BMW, are now in the process of either launching or have already launched fuel efficient diesel vehicles.

One such diesel engine has been developed by Robert Bosh LLC, Germany, a company known for supplying automotive parts viz. braking system parts, automobile electrical system parts, etc. The diesel engine developed by Bosch is a common-rail fuel injection system. Launched first by the company in 1997, the engine is into its third generation now and a fourth generation is expected sometime in the future. The engine promises triple benefits. First, a 30 percent improvement in fuel economy. Second, up to 50 percent more torque than regular gasoline and a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

How It Works?

The actuator in the third-generation common rail injector comprises a series of stacked piezo electric segments embedded deep within the injector body, close to the injector nozzle. The piezo electric control solenoid comes with a super fast switching time and improved precision injection quantity control. This quick response enables more precise control of injection and combustion events. Thus leading to engine applications that have low engine emissions and a much better overall performance. The second-generation system in contrast made use of a magnetic core solenoid, which didn't allow for as quick a response as the third generation one does.

The fourth-generation system under development is expected to not only further reduce engine emissions, engine-specific fuel consumption and combustion noise, but increase the engine output as well.

While, diesel driven automobiles do hold promise for better fuel economy, they might be somewhat tougher to market in North America, where diesel engines are thought of as being noisy and less environment friendly, compared to other markets such as Europe. However, according to projections the demand for diesel powered cars would increase and by 2015 is slated to make up 15 percent of the light vehicle market in the U.S.