[Esel Mann]

Diesel generally hovers at about the price of premium gas or a tad above. Every once in a while it will actually drop down to that of regular. But not often. Taxes on diesel are generally higher than that for gas. Additionally diesel is essentially heating oil so transportation competes with heating in fall/winter. Hence the seasonal price fluctuation. Especially if it is a cold winter. However the increased mpg more than makes up for it. Gas engines are making great strides in increased mpg and approach that of diesel but it seems to me that they are able to do it with the tradeoff of reasonable performance. For example, with the Jetta TDI I can putt-putt but when I need acceleration, I've got it. Compare that to the company car the wife' drives, an equinox. To get any acceleration out of the equinox I have to flip open the floor boards put on special shoes and flintstone it. Even then Segways still pass me. Ok, perhaps a slight embellishiment on my part but you get the idea.

At this time, a diesel engine is more expensive than a gas engine, hence the higher cost for an otherwise equivalent gas model. However part of that is because the sales volumes are relatively low. If sales volume were to increase the prices would come down. We've really missed an opportunity here. Diesel is by no means a magic bullet to completely solving the fuel consumption problem we seem to have, but it would have certainly played a major role in bridging between yesterday and until such time that the fuel cell approach becomes economically viable for the mainstream. As someone pointed out, diesels are used in the direct drive hybrids already, locomotives and done so very economically. The mpg of a locomotive, when taking into account the haul capacity is astonishing!

In any event, we can expect the hybrid concept to evolve and more interesting cars to come onto the scene. Toyota will no doubt be one of the major players.