Diesel Hybrid?

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Following on from another thread in the main motors forum

Is there a reason why most hybrids are petrol and not diesel?
I mean, notionally, the most efficient way to power a hybrid would be a diesel generator charging a battery that powers the car.

Why have we not seen more diesel hybrids?

ei9go

Look at them on autotrader

Fantasy_Suicide

ei9go wrote: »

Look at them on autotrader

I had a look myself, there are a few.

Hybrids are complex enough without the complexities of adding diesel exhaust treatment not to mention the extra expense.

Petrols are smoother, quieter, smaller and lighter and easier to install with the hybrid system.

A diesel hybrid isn't necessary and because the engine can switch off for some time in traffic the diesel could end up a lot less efficient because it would have to be running a lot longer to keep at an efficient operating temp and many diesels today have electric heating that heats the coolant because they don't warm up properly in winter which reduces efficiency again, chasing their tail.

I remember the VAG PD engines, they used to take forever to warm up in winter and it was a real pain in the ass, some passats and most Audi diesels had an electric heater to speed up warm up and in regard to the old B6 Audi A4 it was very noticeable in eco mode compared to non eco. It warmed up much much faster than the Volkswagens.

Peugeot's Hybrid diesel was not that popular because it wasn't much more efficient than the Diesel only version.

Toyota doesn't make them because diesels don't sell in sufficient numbers in the U.S and they don't want to increase development costs to satisfy a small European market when the rest of the world doesn't care much about diesel as much as the E.U.

Toyota say the next generation Prius petrol engine will be the most efficient internal combustion ever built, more efficient than even diesel.

The use of diesels will diminish over the coming years as diesel exhaust gets harder and more expensive to treat, and emissions laws get stricter and harder to meet. Batteries will become much better and cheaper so there'll be much more plug in hybrids and fully electric cars, the need for diesel just won't be there as it won't make financial and environmental sense bot

colm_mcm

The Boris Bus is a hybrid I think

Markcheese

Read somewhere that diesel cars are in their last 10 years,mainly due to increasingly tough emissions standards... so I suppose the development budget for diesels and diesel hybrids has dried up ...
Still would have thought going hybrid diesel would have cleaned up a lot of issues , as the electric motor would allow a smaller more simple diesel to just plod along at more or less optimum revs,

Markcheese

Markcheese wrote: »

Read somewhere that diesel cars are in their last 10 years,mainly due to increasingly tough emissions standards... so I suppose the development budget for diesels and diesel hybrids has dried up ...
Still would have thought going hybrid diesel would have cleaned up a lot of issues , as the electric motor would allow a smaller more simple diesel to just plod along at more or less optimum revs,

It would be too costly and complex and there would only really be a market for diesel hybrids in the E.U, and even for E.U car makers the costs wouldn't make it worth while because no one would buy them especially if the fuel consumption isn't high enough to justify the costs. for a hybrid with greater range on electric people will mostly plug in and do their daily driving mainly on electricity so the need for diesel will not be there if they only need to fire up the engine once a week or more.

The Outlander hybrid has a fast charge port meaning it will be much more convenient for people who want more electric only driving and currently the only plug in with a decent battery, but it is a heavy car and consumes far more on electricity than the Leaf.

We're going to see more and more plug ins for those who "think" they need 500 miles range car for their daily 10-50 mile trips, They'll be more than happy to achieve over 100 mpg but they will get so used to driving on ultra cheap electricity that they will want more and more electric range as has been witnessed with the Prius plug in and Opel Ampera/ Chevy Volt. People will simply detest paying for petrol and diesel at the pumps after experiencing how cheap it is to drive on electricity only.

We're almost at the tipping point where hybrids will be cheap enough and offer twice the mpg of Diesels that people will simply not want the noise rattle and poor power band of a Diesel, they will love driving on electric in their hybrids so much they will want to buy an all fully electric vehicle for more all electric range.

I have to admit getting into any car after the leaf makes it feel like it belongs in a museum I really want a fully electric car, my next one will not have an ICE.

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

It would be too costly and complex and there would only really be a market for diesel hybrids in the E.U, and even for E.U car makers the costs wouldn't make it worth while because no one would buy them especially if the fuel consumption isn't high enough to justify the costs. for a hybrid with greater range on electric people will mostly plug in and do their daily driving mainly on electricity so the need for diesel will not be there if they only need to fire up the engine once a week or more.

The Outlander hybrid has a fast charge port meaning it will be much more convenient for people who want more electric only driving and currently the only plug in with a decent battery, but it is a heavy car and consumes far more on electricity than the Leaf.

We're going to see more and more plug ins for those who "think" they need 500 miles range car for their daily 10-50 mile trips, They'll be more than happy to achieve over 100 mpg but they will get so used to driving on ultra cheap electricity that they will want more and more electric range as has been witnessed with the Prius plug in and Opel Ampera/ Chevy Volt. People will simply detest paying for petrol and diesel at the pumps after experiencing how cheap it is to drive on electricity only.

We're almost at the tipping point where hybrids will be cheap enough and offer twice the mpg of Diesels that people will simply not want the noise rattle and poor power band of a Diesel, they will love driving on electric in their hybrids so much they will want to buy an all fully electric vehicle for more all electric range.

I have to admit getting into any car after the leaf makes it feel like it belongs in a museum I really want a fully electric car, my next one will not have an ICE.

Found this nugget while looking for threads on the Mercedes Diesel PHEV...