Diesel Trucks

[MBFarmer1]

Moderator Charile may want to slap my fingers for making such an off topic post here but could not let previous post regarding tne ban on fuel efficient diesel trucks go by without my two cents. As someone who drives 30 mins to the farm every day I have had my eye out for a nice mid size diesel pickup for ages. After shopping around was told by all dealers that no company manufactures such a creature. To which my response is bullspit. A little internet research reveals that the exact truck I currently drive (Dodge Dakota 4.7 litre engine - 14 miles to the gallon ) is manufactured in Europe, Asia and South America with a nice 4 litre diesel engine that gets 30 to 35 miles to the gallon . Have looked into importing but apparently there are "issues" with emmisions that can't be retrofitted. Once again bullspit. So I am stuck with what I have. If anyone has had any luck finding a solution to this issue would love to hear from you. Once agian sorry for the off topic Charlie.

[TOM4CWB]

MBFarmer1

Being competitive, Koyoto, WTO, and imput costs are all key to making Canadian farms work.

This issue has all of the above right smack in the middle of it.

If we could force the hand of the CDN gov. to allow us an alternative... this would be a great win for everyone!

VW sells 60% of their cars in Canada, with diesel engines. I find it astounding that VW can be ahead of Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi.

What is with the "California" specs that only Cummins, GM, VW, Mercedies, Volvo and Ford can meet these specs.

SOmething is really fishy I smell here... and the best market for my grain (Japan)on the face of this planet cannot make me a decent fuel effeicient vehicle.

It is about time Ontario sucked it up, and either produced a decent fuel effiencent farm vehicle (Pickup) or allowed us to import it!

This is All about the AUTOPAC with the US... my bet is!

[charliep]

I think Daimler Chrysler is testing the market with their Liberty diesel. I rode around in a Chrysler Caravan diesel taxi in Europe last summer.

[melvill]

MBFarmer1, interesting that you have 4.7 litre Dakota that you say gets 14 mpg and that you'd like a diesel version. I have the same truck (2000 Quad cab) that I keep a very close watch on mileage. My last trip to Edmonton and back to Brooks, it got 21.5 mpg at never more than 100 km/h. One other trip I drove 110 km/h both ways and fuel consumption dropped to 18.8 mpg.

In the summer pulling a 19 ft. travel trailer at 90 kmh I consistently get 13.5 mpg.

Around town the last time I checked it, it got 12.7 mpg for 3/4 of a tank.

I, too, would love a diesel version of the truck and I knew they build them elsewhere. My limited understanding is that when we get low-sulpher diesel, we'll see more diesel vehicles. Somehow VW has managed to build a great diesel car in spite of high sulpher fuel here but it has a cost. The same cars in Europe, with low sulpher fuel, have better fuel economy and more power.

Low sulpher fuel comes with a higher price, though. Low-sulpher diesel is more expensive to make and sulpher lubricates non-oiled parts in diesel engines. Engines running on low-sulpher fuel will have lower longevity unless and additive or biodiesel is mixed in.

Europe uses a huge amount of biodiesel. I don't know if all Euro-diesel requires an addition of biodiesel or not. Does anyone know?

[MBFarmer1]

Thanks for the great info guys. I thought I was the only one that got really hot over this issue but apparently not!! Good info on all the diesel trucks out there Tom4CWB I had not seen these. As for Melvil's point re: driving habits and mileage I definetly agree that lower speeds conserve fuel and i must take some of the blame for poor mileage but I still lay an awfully big chunk of that blame on car manufacturers for not giving us a quality product. Bring on lthe low sulphur diesel.

[charliep]

Just a comment that it is interesting how the conversation about a diesel engine came back to low sulphur/bio diesel. Lee and I heard a very interesting talk from Kyoto fuels in Lethbridge this past week. Their main feed stock for bio diesel is rendered product from livestock. Collecting spent deep frying oils from restraunts is another alternative. To date, canola oil has been to expensive. With high green counts/low grade this year, it is too bad this is isn't an opportunity (highlighting as an additive and not 100 % of diesel). In some dark days, there are very interesting things happening that will create value for farmers.

[melvill]

Good points, Charlie.

Look at www.kyotofuels.com/index2.php

Those of you looking to hear an interesting presentation, contact Kyoto Fuels to come to your community. If you can help them with travel costs, so much the better.

[gjoost]

perhaps a good speaker for the marketing club Lee? I think Bio diesel is a very interesting topic.

[gus]

As soon as there are millions of small cars and trucks using diesel in canada the gov.will raise the price of diesel.

Diesel was cheap in the 60s, but it sure came up in price as the number of truck
increased.
My two cent worth.
Gus

[melvill]

gjoost, I've heard the guys from Kyoto Fuels talk twice. At first I was most interested in the rural development side of the issue - new markets for canola and other oilseeds and new employment and new industrial opportunities for rural areas. Of course, the frustration with fuel consumption and lack of pulling power in my own vehicle also piqued my interest. Fact is, I like horsepower, especially if it's cleaner than old technology.

I hope the Kyoto guys can pull it off. The ag industry needs people, lots of people, who push the envelope.

Yes, invite them to a marketing club meeting.

[gjoost]

o.k thanks , I will invite them to the PTM meeting.

[gjoost]

Lee, why can't we grow a circle of canola here and throw it in the bio-diesel factory , sitting behind the house and create all the diesel we need for the year? I know it is a lot more complicated than that, but everybody is talking about building 40 million liter plants. Why not a 1 million liter plant, for our own consumption?

[melvill]

I'm an economics type not a techie so I don't know too much about the physical process of making biodiesel although your idea has merit.

The canola seed needs to be crushed to extract the oil. Crushing equipment isn't cheap and my understanding is that the economics require pretty well 100% extraction rather than leaving 10 or 15 per cent of the oil in the meal. Although, I suppose the meal could be burned for heat but I don't know the economics of that either.

However, what about the idea of a community-sized crusher/biodiesel plant? The next big issue is: who would do the community blending?

Those are all questions for experts. I'll see if I can find out who knows more.

[melvill]

There is more info on biodiesel at:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/eng4469

http://www.milliganbiotech.com/index.html

http://www.biodiesel.org/

http://www.greenfuels.org/

http://www.biodiesel-canada.org/

[melvill]

Some work was done on farm-size biodiesel generators at the Ag Technology Centre in Lethbridge. I don't know if it's available on the web anywhere or not.