I’m thinking about similar situations e.g. the war of the currents with AC and DC or the format wars with various disc formats where one technology was deemed superior and “won” in the end, phasing the other one out. How come we still have two competing fuels that are so different?
In: Engineering
The two fuels are better at different things. A diesel engine is better in a large, more expensive vehicle that needs powerful low end torque to move heavy loads. Gasoline is better in a smaller, less expensive vehicle that needs to move relatively light loads. The market for vehicles includes both these extremes and one fuel type for everything would be needlessly restrictive. There is a reason you don’t see very many gasoline-powered semi-trailer trucks and small diesel passenger cars are a niche, questionable product.
Another thing to consider is that when you take crude oil out of the ground and start separating out its components you are going to get both gasoline and diesel along the way. If one or the other of those fuels isn’t being burned in automobiles then what else do you do with it? The excess production would drive prices down for that fuel type, and suddenly it makes a lot of sense to build some automobiles to use the cheap available fuel.
Latest Answers