Why does diesel cost more than gasoline?

Would definitely like to see a diesel revolution in the auto industry here. For the most part people here tend to think of diesels as smoke belching underpowered dirty vehicles. Back in the 80's when all a person could get as a diesel was a Nissan or Toyota mini-pickup with a naturally aspirated diesel that was, for the most part, true. Although those little pickups, underpowered as they were, got great fuel mileage and you could not wear them out. Then GM tried to produce diesels based off their gasser V8's which was a disaster. Only expensive imported European cars back in those days had reliable turbo diesels. Don't know if the mentality will ever change but there have been a few clean diesel options here in the states in recent years - Volkswagon and Jeep come to mind. Back in '07-'08 Dodge had plans to introduce a '10 model 1500 turbo diesel Ram pickup - but the economy tanked and those plans were shelved.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBnlXGvA1Wk

This will make ya mad....

 

This. +1. ULSD has made diesel fuel noticeably more expensive.

 

Yup, and just ask how I'd love to have a diesel Jeep Wrangler.

sent from my EVO4gLTE
OCed and MEAN

 

Mi wife just got a new car.
Same make same model with same size engine as her previous car that she kept.
The new one is diesel and the older one gas.
The diesel will run circles around the gas car.

What you have to remember is that unless you do more then about 25 000 miles a year it usually does not make economic sense to run a diesel.They cost more to purchase and if you keep them for many years they cost more to repair.

 

Yeah I remember back in the early 90's when diesel prices were way lower than gas.

 

You can thank the EPA for not having a "diesel revolution". In the "land of the free" emission laws are tougher than in "socialist dictatorships" like Europe making building diesel power cars for you and I a very unprofitable idea for many reasons.

BUT, the europeans are coming to help, so as gas prices to through the roof and wages stay the same, more and more people are going to start worrying about effiency.

I can't wait for a Grand Cherokee getting 30+ mpg.

 

There are a few reasons.

1) Refineries in the US are optimized to produce gasoline
2) Overall demand for diesel is increasing while overall demand for gasoline is decreasing
3) The introduction of ULSD in '08 prompted refineries and fuel stations to spend billions of dollars upgrading their facilities to accomodate the new fuel standards set by the EPA

 

Gas power motors are not durrable enough to handle the weight hauled by rigs, JMO