Picking an automotive vehicle is a huge investment, especially when you are tight on cash. After all, not only will purchasing a vehicle make a big dent in your bank account, but people who have more financial foresight will know that the cost of maintaining the vehicle and ensuring it has enough petrol will also add up. Hence, it is important to choose a vehicle that will not impact your financial position too much. Let’s be real, with the plethora of vehicles on the market you will be spoilt for choice.
One of the most important decisions that you have to make when narrowing down your choices would be whether it is better to choose a vehicle that is powered by diesel fuel or petrol fuel. If you have done adequate research on diesel fuel testing, you should know that in vehicles of the same size diesel engines can go further with the same amount of gas and can burn much cleaner than a petrol engine. This is because diesel engines are intrinsically more energy-dense and clean. In this article, we will be discussing what makes diesel engines a more economical and environmentally-friendly option as compared to petrol engines.
You Don’t Have To Fill Your Tank As Often
Due to the high energy density of vehicles with diesel engines, they do not require as much refueling. While it is true that diesel costs a little more than gasoline, diesel will bring your vehicle further, as each drop is much more powerful. Hence, it will be more worth it in the long run as the price difference for volume is not too big, with the same amount of diesel and petrol, diesel will power your vehicle further. It is not just gasoline, diesel is more energy-dense when compared with other forms of fossil fuel that can be used to power combustion engines such as coal, jet fuel, and even kerosene. The only fossil fuel that has a higher fuel density than diesel would be bunker fuel and marine fuel, but they are no land vehicles with engines that are compatible with those. Let’s not get started on green alternative forms of fuel with extremely high prices. Not only are they more expensive, but they are also much less fuel-efficient, which makes them an unsavory option for those who are working on a tight budget.
All in all, diesel would be a more economical and fuel-efficient option in the market today. The reason why you don’t have to fill your tank as often is that diesel is more combustion efficient and energy-dense.
Why Combustion Efficiency Matters When Understanding Fuel Economy
The reason why diesel is such an energy-dense fuel is that diesel has a high combustion efficiency.
The high combustion efficiency of diesel engines means that they have the advantage of being much faster and consuming much less diesel when converting fuel into energy. This is because diesel in itself has high resistance to compression. The high compression resistance of diesel means that diesel will be able to withstand a higher compression ratio. Gasoline comes in many octane levels, and those that have higher octane levels will have a higher compression ratio, however, diesel’s compression ratio overshadows all of them as it can withstand intense compression. With all this talking about compression, you may be wondering then why does compression matter?
Well, the simple answer would be that when a substance has a greater compression ratio, then it will be able to produce more heat. As we learned in science class, heat energy will be converted to kinetic energy in the vehicle’s engine. That means with more heat produced by diesel fuel, there will be more energy to power your vehicle. Hence, the high fuel efficiency of diesel fuel is because diesel can withstand and produce more heat compared to other combustion fuels. Therefore, diesel, despite its slightly premium price, will be a more economic choice as it can better produce energy to bring your vehicle further when compared to the same amount of other fuel. As such, it would be more convenient for vehicle owners as it will be cheaper per mile and you will not need to visit the gas station to fill up your tank as often.
Diesel Fuel Is A Cleaner Fuel
This may come as a big shock to many, but research has shown that diesel fuel produces much less polluting gases when compared to other sources of fuel. Yes, that includes alternative “cleaner” fuels as well. We say this because petrol and other alternative fuel sources produce many toxic gases that diesel does not. One example would be that cleaner alternative fuels tend to produce more nitrous oxides and petrol produces carbon monoxide byproducts. On the other hand, diesel produces very little carbon monoxide and no nitrous oxides.
One of the few reasons why people say that diesel causes pollution is because of the number of sulfur oxides generated when diesel is being combusted. However, with advancements in technology, using low-sulfur diesel has been reported to significantly reduce the amount of sulfur projected into the environment when burnt. The byproducts of burning diesel aside, the refining process of diesel is much cleaner in relation to petrol as refineries will have to add toxic chemicals to petrol to increase their octane rating. This does not have to be done to diesel as it is intrinsically a simple process to refine and does not do as much harm to the environment relative to petrol.
Another reason why diesel is considered cleaner is that less diesel is needed to power the vehicle, hence the natural properties of diesel make it a better choice for the environment and your wallet.
Conclusion
When picking out the right vehicle, be sure to take note of what kind of engine it has. Those that use petrol have spark-fired engines while those that use diesel are compression-fired. Hence, the way that the liquid is ignited inside the combustion chamber differs. So, if you want a more fuel-efficient vehicle then be sure to pick those that are compatible with diesel fuel. After all, it is a much cleaner fuel too!
