Comment by AxeHead, posted on March7 at 12:41 am ”

Most Americans have a very negative perception/bias against diesel. All they think of is soot, smell, and noise when they think diesel. Americans are repulsed by diesels actually. Only 2% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. are diesel powered. The only segment where they sell well is the heavy duty pickup truck market, because they tow like nothing else.

I think once Americans see and ride in a modern clean diesel their perceptions will change, and diesel sales will increase. But that won’t happen over night. 10 years from now, maybe 10% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. will be diesel – at most.

Comment by autonut, posted on March6 at 10:16 pm ”

You got diesel backwards there, autonut. Diesels are low RPM torque monsters – they have all their punch off the line, and then they actually lose power as they approach higher revs and redline.

Two engines of the same displacement, one gas, one diesel, the diesel engine will have MUCH more torque at 1,500 RPM’s than the gas engine – and that’s what gets you off the line fast.

I don’t here that around this forum. I don’t here that anywhere else? WTF is going on? At least put them in trucks less than 250 models where torque and mileage are wanted and needed. I don’t understand this reluctance when gas prices are going to hit $1.40 a litre this summer (not sure what that is in American greenbacks).

But the capacitors (“Super-caps”) would be used at start or launch while the engine driving the generator spools up. In a Parallel Hybrid they would serve the same general purpose but are less important. In a Series Hybrid it is more noticeable. Even if the engine responses “formula-fast” it is still not the instant power people will come to expect.

It was called Super-caps or something like that.. Batteries that charge and decharge extremely quickly and weigh so little and are so compact that they can be fitted underneath the doors of an X5..

They can’t power the car alone, but give insane boosts of torque and horsepower at low revs.

I wouldn’t bemoan it, except FORD closed SVT, Chrysler is going to sell, if they haven’t sold, MOPAR, and GM Never really had such a focused branch (the CORVETTE development team doesn’t count).