Harvester generator gas and not diesel

[RL18]

I can’t be the only one who wishes the generator was a diesel and with ties to VW why are they not doing this?

I understand the pros of using a gas engine… more compact, less money to implement, higher kw. Basically it’s easy to do and will get the job done

But then the pros for a diesel are fuel efficiency leading to a longer overall range and lower co2 production, which the whole point of electric vehicles is to lower co2 production and be efficient. Not only that but maintenance wise it would be less complicated than gas. Since it’s not driving the vehicle and only filling a battery pack the emissions equipment minus perhaps a DOC is not needed getting rid of complexity and you can technically use offroad diesel reducing fuel cost vs on road diesel.

There’s a company out of canada called deboss garage doing just that retrofitting old trucks and to me that’s the only thing that would get me to buy an ev.

I understand the cons being complexity and cost which would be passed on to the consumer, but am I the only one who would be completely okay with that?

 

[THil08]

I can’t be the only one who wishes the generator was a diesel and with ties to VW why are they not doing this?

I understand the pros of using a gas engine… more compact, less money to implement, higher kw. Basically it’s easy to do and will get the job done

But then the pros for a diesel are fuel efficiency leading to a longer overall range and lower co2 production, which the whole point of electric vehicles is to lower co2 production and be efficient. Not only that but maintenance wise it would be less complicated than gas. Since it’s not driving the vehicle and only filling a battery pack the emissions equipment minus perhaps a DOC is not needed getting rid of complexity and you can technically use offroad diesel reducing fuel cost vs on road diesel.

There’s a company out of canada called deboss garage doing just that retrofitting old trucks and to me that’s the only thing that would get me to buy an ev.

I understand the cons being complexity and cost which would be passed on to the consumer, but am I the only one who would be completely okay with that?

WELCOME!

VW Diesel Gate. Ever heard of it? Thats why there won't be diesel and it's just not necessary.

 

[RL18]

WELCOME!

VW Diesel Gate. Ever heard of it? Thats why there won't be diesel and it's just not necessary.

I didn’t use the search function thoroughly enough.

Still a shame though

 

[THil08]

I didn’t use the search function thoroughly enough.

Still a shame though

All good. VW is kinda ashamed of it. So they hide it from the internet. Lol

 

[Derek]

I think that it would miss the market. While technically superior to gasoline, most of these vehicles will probably only burn 100 gallons a year or less of fuel, so 100 gallons of gasoline vs 80 gallons of diesel hardly seems worth the extra costs and politics.

Also, diesel increases the risk of misfueling and there are a LOT of towns you can't buy diesel in, especially going up into the mountains. They have a gas station (maybe) and that's it. So if I'm tooling around in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, I can use the battery up, then have lots of gas range, which I can top off at several towns around the area.

Found gas in 1/2 the towns, diesel maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of towns.

Also, other people you'll be out with are more likely to have a Jerry can of gas than diesel, so that let's you loan fuel to each other/etc more easily if needed.

 

[THil08]

And Diesel is just expensive no matter what political crap around it is. it's always is more expensive than refined gasoline.

 

[Badams]

Diesel would be a great option and vw builds some great diesel engines. But with diesel gate and all of the emissions that would be required would much more complicated than gas. I can’t think of a single diesel engine now that gets by without all the emissions equipment. Even all of newer equipment I’ve seen still has it and that’s all off-road use.

 

[dreamweaver]

Diesel would be a great option and vw builds some great diesel engines. But with diesel gate and all of the emissions that would be required would much more complicated than gas. I can’t think of a single diesel engine now that gets by without all the emissions equipment. Even all of newer equipment I’ve seen still has it and that’s all off-road use.

Ya, there is no "clean diesel", and maintenance costs are higher.

 

[dreamweaver]

And Diesel is just expensive no matter what political crap around it is. it's always is more expensive than refined gasoline.

I had a Lincoln Continental VII in the 80's that had a BMW-sourced 2.4-liter turbodiesel straight-six. Was not my cup of tea.

 

[THil08]

I had a Lincoln Continental VII in the 80's that had a BMW-sourced 2.4-liter turbodiesel straight-six. Was not my cup of tea.

BMW diesel are good as long as they stay in the EU. My service center has 1 customer with a Diesel engine and it sucks to service since either has to be tuned every time.

All of the BMW gas engine are good beside the 1 quart of oil burned ever 800miles. Which to some is worry some but to the person who works on them, it saves the engines. Since its not a closed loop system which causes problems.

VW has some great engines ever since they began to use Audi Development parts.

 

[chucchinchilla]

I can’t be the only one who wishes the generator was a diesel and with ties to VW why are they not doing this?

You answered your own question when you said "ties to VW."

 

[RL18]

I had a Lincoln Continental VII in the 80's that had a BMW-sourced 2.4-liter turbodiesel straight-six. Was not my cup of tea.

Bmw diesels are some of the best, arguably better than vw. I have two m57, and e70 & e90. They are absolute sleepers. There’s a tuner making over 1000hp & torque on stock internals, trans, and drivetrain with just bolt ons on the e90 platform.

 

[RL18]

You answered your own question when you said "ties to VW."

They shouldn’t be so salty about what they did to themselves though

 

[RL18]

BMW diesel are good as long as they stay in the EU. My service center has 1 customer with a Diesel engine and it sucks to service since either has to be tuned every time.

All of the BMW gas engine are good beside the 1 quart of oil burned ever 800miles. Which to some is worry some but to the person who works on them, it saves the engines. Since its not a closed loop system which causes problems.

VW has some great engines ever since they began to use Audi Development parts.

Bmw diesels are great without the emissions equipment. N47 & n57 are more reliable emissions wise.

 

[RL18]

Ya, there is no "clean diesel", and maintenance costs are higher.

Getting a generator to pass tier 4 emissions would not be nearly as difficult as it would be to get an engine that’s varying its rpm to. Likely the generator would need nothing more than a doc to pass

 

[RL18]

And Diesel is just expensive no matter what political crap around it is. it's always is more expensive than refined gasoline.

That’s very true, but it’s still usually cheaper to run considering how much more gasoline you have to burn. Although it could take awhile to offset when you factor in the price difference in generators.

I would love to see the generator specs on the harvester option to see what the fuel consumption is as well as everything else…

 

[RL18]

Diesel would be a great option and vw builds some great diesel engines. But with diesel gate and all of the emissions that would be required would much more complicated than gas. I can’t think of a single diesel engine now that gets by without all the emissions equipment. Even all of newer equipment I’ve seen still has it and that’s all off-road use.

A generator running at a constant rpm and load would likely only need a DOC to meet tier 4 emissions

 

[Badams]

A generator running at a constant rpm and load would likely only need a DOC to meet tier 4 emissions

It’s possible but keep in mind this won’t be running very often. Diesels don’t like to sit unused. They like to be ran almost daily or else you start having a lot of little problems.

 

[RL18]

It’s possible but keep in mind this won’t be running very often. Diesels don’t like to sit unused. They like to be ran almost daily or else you start having a lot of little problems.

To be cheaper than a diesel generator for the same mileage you’d have to be paying under 20c a kwh for electricity. Which isn’t the case where I live in Maine. So depending on what your area charges for electricity you could theoretically just buy off road diesel and it would be cheaper to operate and still cut the standard vehicle emissions in half.

From what’s been released from both these scout vehicles and the ramcharger the gas generators mpg would equate to about 25 mpg whereas a diesel generator would easily double that being over 50 mpg. That’s another 350 miles on top of the 500miles with the 15 gal fuel tank.

 

[Badams]

I agree diesel has alot of benefits. But it costs more manufacture and doesn’t do well with not being used regularly. Plus with the whole diesel gate thing it’s just not worth the headache. I love diesel’s but a diesel generator just wouldn’t be worth it. Scout can use the connection with the vw group to get an engine that already passes US emissions and save the customers money. To my knowledge vw doesn’t produce a diesel in the US anymore so then they would have to find one in that fits in the space. Then make it pass emissions even if easy that’s more work in a small window of time.