Carsy

Take a look at the new C 220 Class specs.

Amazing fuel economy. Beats Hybrids !

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/cont...ical-data.html

N_Jay

No Sh-t!


The US is screwed up with its Hybrid/Electric focus on vehicle efficiency.
The next step "should" be a hybrid diesel with regenerative braking and start/stop (but with longer cycles than the current gas version)

nelbur

I think the 78 mpg is on UK gallons. Even that sounds like fantasy to me.

Micah / AF1 Rac

Nope, 83 on Imperial gallons. Gotta admit, its way more interesting than any four cylinder diesel has the right to be. It's too bad the basic styling is "blah" in my eyes, doesn't really matter since they probably will not be sold here in the USA anyway. Battery/electric hybrids are not technically impressive to me, TurboDiesel is my sort of hybrid, half turbine, half reciprocating motor...

N_Jay

Turbo-Diesel is all reciprocating motor, the turbo is just a supercharger.


Just think of a Diesel that spends a good bit of its time off, with an electric motor big enough to get you off the line and then starts the diesel during the first shift. (or some cleaver arraignment).

Micah / AF1 Rac

Oh no, as a guy who owns both jet and recip motors, I think of the cdi/tdi concept as a true hybrid. A naturally aspirated diesel is a pig, while turbo shaft motors have their own very real limitations, to me the TurboDiesel is the perfect hybrid, it is a centrifugally designed jet engine with a reciprocating "flame tube" set. Think about it, more true than it sounds. Just got home from COTA round of motogp, been a long day, next 48 hours of out loading are gonna nearly kill me for sure. 41.7mpg average on the 88 mile trip home in the CDI btw, not bad for minimal mods, a headwind and four passengers, of which two carried serious camera gear!

N_Jay

What about conventionally supercharged diesels?


If we ran enough boost not to need any compression from the pistons, you might be right, but you are really just stretching an analogy to make yourself happy.

Micah / AF1 Rac

What about them. The only one I'm currently in love with is the DeltaHawk TSDI two stroke...look that one up. If you dream of wings and canyons of clouds, it should be good for weeks of mental masturbation.

A supercharger is a mechanically (engine driven) external compressor, the turbocharger however is a centrifugal jet engines used not for thrust but rather for pre engine external compression driven by wasted heat and pressure recovered from the hot side of the motor.

As with 99% of things automotive its roots go back to the 1930's, when used on the Allison V1710 aviation motor. As a child I shared hangar space with a P38 locked Lightning, as a college student I volunteered on Lefty Gardner's "twin lightning" Reno Air racer, he raced with Rolls Merlin's because he liked the sound of the pair of V12 27.9 liter motors doing their thing with no stupid sound suppressing turbochargers. That said, the first turbocharger I ever rebuilt was one of the stock units from his 1945 P38J ( I think it was a J model).

Hybrid only means the combination of a pair of seemingly disparate items, IMHO TurboDiesel motors qualify. If ever a dry sump, mostly alloy I6 TDI motor becomes available to spring a three or four bladed Hartzell prop, well I know where the last bit if my money is going!