koshercamel

Palm Beach County, FL...just filled up my '07 Bluetec with diesel...$4.15/gal.
I am so angry !!! Why is diesel more expensive than regular gas. Used to be that owning a diesel was a smart thing, now I don't know. BTW, I love the car!

uberwgn

Hello, Mr Camel. Diesel fuel has spiked way up everywhere in the USA. Some folks are paying $4.50 in California. It's around $4.10 in my local area.

lkchris

Why?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/diesel/

Plus, how can you be mad when own such a wonderful car?

240D 3.0T

Because it is, get used to it.

wynot

Diesel fuel is the dumping ground for road taxes. When I first was driving MB diesels, it was 19 cents per gallon, when gas was 23-25 cents. States love to tax diesel, because ALL diesel vehicles contribute all the road damage AND diesel people don't vocally oppose it, like the gas driving public would.

If diesel goes up, and around here, it is a difference of almost a dollar a gallon between regular and diesel, people don't complain about it. Trucking firms pass it on, garbage pickup costs more, groceries cost more, but no one says anything about it.

If questioned, the oil companies say the following:

• Heating oil is competing with #2 diesel
• #2 diesel needs to be cut with more expensive #1 diesel for winterization
• 3rd World countries are demanding far more diesel than anything else
• Road taxes have been increased
• Only 7 gallons of a 42 gal barrel are diesel factions
• ULSD is far more costly to make than LSD diesel.

Reality is far from any of these, with the exception possibly of taxes. Diesel prices didn't go up in the winter 10 plus years ago, with far more houses heating with oil.
Hydrocarbon cracking allows for a custom selection of the products from a barrel of crude.

Etc, etc.

What's happening is that the oil companies want more profit, period. Gas distributors can't jack up gasoline prices unchallenged, so they raise diesel prices.

Remember the reality - diesel fuel is far less refined than kerosene, or gasoline. In 35 years of driving diesel vehicles, only the last 10 years have had diesel prices change the way they are.

What's really causing diesel to go up (and gasoline)?

A prolonged war in the Arab States. (Both the war support itself, and the sympathetic members of OPEC.)
Industrialization of formerly less-industrialized areas, (China, India, etc.) which are being paid for by companies moving production and labor to those areas, making them wealthier, and now competing in the global oil market.

None of us should blindly accept that diesel prices just are higher. If there was a 50% US driving public of diesel, it wouldn't be the case.

harkgar

Quite the contrary.

If 50% of US drivers use diesel engines you can be sure the taxes will go up, not down, under this nonsense "carbon food prim" excuse.

Untertürkheim

As far as taxes specifically, I could not say. But the more people who drive diesel, the lower the price should become, since diesel (which is currently an inelastic good) would take on more elasticity of demand as gasoline has.

lkchris

If 50% of US drivers drove diesels, there'd be lines at fuel stations, as the USA does not have the refining capacity for this level of diesel sales. Prices would be higher, too, becuase there would be an even greater shortage of diesel than there is now.

C5DRVR

LKCHRIS is right. From a recent Car and Driver magazine column:

"The advantage of a diesel is half what it once was. Is it likely to be further eroded over the next few years? According to Ron Planting, an economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API), most of the world’s rapidly growing economies, such as China’s and India’s, use more diesel and less gasoline from each barrel of oil than we do in America, where 40 to 45 percent of each barrel ends up being refined into gasoline. Although the energy demand of these growing economies is one of the causes of today’s record-high crude-oil prices, that growth is putting even greater pressure on the world’s diesel supplies.

Today’s expensive fuel encourages conservation worldwide, but since diesel fuel is used more in manufacturing and commercial applications than is gasoline, the push for energy conservation tends to reduce gasoline use more than diesel use.

Then there’s Europe, where governments have used various incentives, including much higher taxes on gasoline than diesel, to encourage customers to purchase diesel-powered cars. (At this writing, gasoline costs about $7.50 a gallon in Germany; diesel is about a buck cheaper.) This program has been wildly successful—diesels today comprise about half of new-car-and-truck sales. In Europe, the demand for diesel equaled gasoline demand about 10 years ago and has since surged well ahead.

The arrival of low-sulfur regulations has also added a few cents to the price of a gallon of diesel due to the more complex refining process required to extract the sulfur.

Basic economics dictates that when one commodity has higher demand than another, its price will rise faster, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen with diesel fuel and gasoline. So why don’t the oil companies simply produce more diesel than gasoline from each barrel of crude oil? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as twisting a few dials at the world’s oil refineries.

Al Mannato, a fuel-issues manager at API, explains that oil refineries tend to fall into two categories: catalytic cracking and hydrocracking. Most U.S. refineries are set up for catalytic cracking, which turns each barrel of crude oil into about 50-percent gasoline, 15-percent diesel, and the remainder into jet fuel, home heating oil, heavy fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas, asphalt, and various other products. In Europe and most of the rest of the world, refineries use a hydrocracking process, which produces more like 25-percent gasoline and 25-percent diesel from that barrel of oil. So the rest of the world is already maximizing diesel production. In fact, despite using a refining strategy that minimizes the production of gasoline, Europe still ends up with too much of the stuff, so it exports it to America—about one of every eight gallons of gasoline that we consume.

Meanwhile, Americans are already using most of the diesel fuel that our refineries produce, so if sales of diesel cars take off, keeping the diesel flowing here will put further demands on tight worldwide diesel supplies and probably cause the price to rise even more. Our oil industry could, of course, start converting its refineries from catalytic to hydrocracking and start producing more diesel and less gasoline.

Doing so—and here’s the Catch-22—would reduce the output of gasoline and likely increase its price. Moreover, such a switch, Mannato explains, amounts to a major refinery change that would take 5 to 10 years to accomplish. Building some new hydrocracking refineries would add diesel capacity without squeezing gasoline supplies, but due to their nearly universal unpopularity, there hasn’t been a new refinery built in America since 1979. "

DESAL

KosherCamel,

I too remember when my rabbit diesel of the 70's ran on diesel that cost way below gas. Unfortunately we can't go back in time....The only hope we might have is that the trucking industry (who are lucky to get 9/mpg) might put downward pressure on the price.

Try this mapquest web site for best price in your zip code. http://gasprices.mapquest.com

I'm in Delray Beach and find that WalMart is generally the best. Just filed up tonight $3.95 less 3 cents = $3.92/gal. Of course it cost $62 for 16 gals but on the other hand I get 22-25/mpg around the county roads and 28-33/mpg on I-95 depending on how heavy a foot I have.

Good luck,
DESAL

240D 3.0T

9mpg? In your dreams. They would be lucky to get that bobtailing.
No, with a GVW of 65-80,000lbs, they get 3.5-5.5mpg depending on how much they idle and terrain they drive in. The really talented owner-ops can squeeze out 6mpg.

You have to remember that these are emissions choked POS's now, the days of free breathing and efficient engines are gone.

harkgar

240:

Army tanks do gallons to the mile not mpg.

Our three quarter ton Suburban with the 6 liter iron engine does 10 mpg average. And it weighs less than 9,000 lbs.

boxerboy2

I thought people might like to see this:

After crude oil costs, taxes are the second largest contributor to the price paid at the pump. Together Federal and State excise taxes on fuel account for an average cost of approximately 62 cents per gallon. Rates include Federal excise taxes 18.4 cpg for gasoline and 24.4 cpg for diesel. First number is gasoline and second is diesel

Alabama 38.6 45.6
Alaska 26.4 32.4
Arizona 37.4 52.4 1
Arkansas 40.2 47.2 .
California 63.9 72.0 6% Sales Tax. 1.25% county tax. 1.2 cpg state UST fee. plus local sales tax
Colorado 40.4 44.9
Connecticut 62.5 61.4
Delaware 41.4 46.4 .
Dist. of Columbia 38.4 44.4
Florida 51.6 53.4 Sales tax 11.6. 4 cpg excise tax. 2.2 cpg environmental inspection.
Georgia 44.4 52.6 4% sales tax. Local option sales taxes from 1% to 3%
Hawaii 51.0 71.1 4% sales tax. county tax and 0.1 cpg environmental reponse tax.
Idaho 43.4 49.4
Illinois 57.9 65.7 6.25% sales tax. 0.003 per gallon tax for underground storage tank fund. Additional 12.75 cpg in City of Chicago
Indiana 50.1 69.2 6% sales tax. 0.01 per gallon inspection fee.
Iowa 40.1 47.9 1 cpg UST fee.
Kansas 43.4 51.4 1 cpg environmental fee
Kentucky 36.9 39.9 1.4cpg underground storage tank fund. Commercial carriers pay surtax 2.2cpg quarterly on gas and 5.2 cpg on special fuels
Louisiana 38.4 44.4
Maine 47.5 53.9 .07 Coastal and Inland Water fund. 1.38 groundwater fund. 40 cpg/10,000 for Petroleum Market Share Act.
Maryland 41.9 48.7
Massachusetts 41.9 47.9 2.5 cp UST fund.
Michigan 54.4 60.3 6% sales tax. .875 cpg for environmental regulation fee for refined petroleum fund
Minnesota 40.4 46.4 2 cpg UST cleanup fee at wholesale level
Mississippi 37.2 43.2 .4 cpg Environmental Protection Fee. In Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties there is an additional 3 cpg Seawall tax.
Missouri 36.0 42.0
Montana 46.2 53.0 0.75cpg fee assessed at the pump to go toward the state cleanup fund.
Nebraska 42.3 47.7 0.9cpg release prevention fee for gasoline and 0.3cpg release prevention fee for diesel
Nevada 50.9 53.0 up to 10cpg county tax on gasoline.0.75 cpg cleanup fee. .055 cpg inspection fee.
New Hampshire 38.0 44.0 0.125 cpg for oil pollution control fund.1.5 cpg for UST cleanup fund.
New Jersey 32.9 41.9 4 cpg Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax.
New Mexico 36.4 43.4 1 cpg loading fee.
New York 59.6 64.7 local county sales tax of between 3.125% to 4.75%.
North Carolina 48.6 54.6 0.25cpg inspection tax.17.5 cpg flat rate plus a variable rate of 12.35 cpg wholesale price component
North Dakota 41.4 47.4
Ohio 46.4 52.4 Surcharge of 3 cpg for commercial vehicles.
Oklahoma 35.4 38.4 1 cpg per gallon UST fee.
Oregon 43.4 48.7 additional optional county gasoline (ranging from 1 to 3 cpg) and city gasoline and diesel taxes (ranging from 1 to 5 cpg).
Pennsylvania 50.7 63.6 19.2 cent per gallon oil company franchise tax on gas. 26.1 cpg oil company franchise tax on diesel.1.1 cpg UST fee
Rhode Island 49.4 55.4 1 cent per gallon environmental protection regulatory fee for UST program.
South Carolina 35.2 41.2 0.25 cpg inspection fee for inspection program and 0.50cpg environmental fee for UST cleanup.
South Dakota 42.4 48.4 2 cpg Tank Inspection Fee. Ethanol is taxed at 20 cents per gallon; E85 and M85 are taxed at 10 cpg.
Tennessee 39.8 42.8 1cent special petroleum tax for gasoline and .4 cpg environmental assurance fee.
Texas 38.4 44.4
Utah 42.9 48.9
Vermont 38.4 50.4 1 cpg license fee for UST fund.
Virginia 38.0 44.0 0.6cpg petroleum storage tank fee and 2% sales tax on motor fuels in localities that are part of the Northern Virginia Transportation District
Washington 54.4 60.4
West Virginia 49.9 55.9
Wisconsin 51.3 57.3 2cpg UST fee on gasoline and diesel.
Wyoming 32.4 38.4 1 cpg to the environmental cleanup costs.

Please note the above rates are meant as only guidelines of pump taxes and may not represent the full tax amount at the pump.
Source: Compiled by GasBuddy Organization from various sources.
* UST = Underground Storage Tank

harkgar

I read that Acura (Honda) is importing their new 2009 TSX diesel with the 2.2 liter turbo next year to the USA. 150 horse & 250 Pound Foot or so. Choice of 6 speed manual or 5 speed paddle shift automatic. In Europe this engine does 50 mpg on the highway.

No urea injection needed either.