Diesel Engines Are Here To Stay

Photo: MathKnight. Creative Commons.

Earlier this week 365 News, a communications arm of CONEXPO-CON/AGG, published a story titled Diesel's Not Done. The six minute read touches on a range of themes relevant to diesel owners and people in the diesel industry. 

The main point of the article is this: Whereas electrification has taken center stage and captured the media spotlight, the benefits and attributes of diesel technology are many and will continue to make a contribution for years to come.

Engine makers have made great progress in reducing diesel emissions for for the past several decades. This is a trend that will continue. At the same time, innovative thinking is also producing many new and interesting developments. 

The important thing for manufacturers like John Deer and others in this market segment is to ensure that innovation does not come at the expense of certain fundamental values. Those values include the importance of uptime and reliability. 

Michael Lefebvre, manager, global marketing support, John Deere Power Systems, says that these are exciting times because of all the technical advances being incorporated into engine design. Many of the advances in this high tech era "include  leveraging virtual analysis and telematics data, using digital tools and advanced simulation, and streamlining overarching power systems in the vehicle." 

“Engines will become smarter and more capable – not only in terms of lower emissions or higher power, but by being more reliable to run in the way applications demand,” Lefebvre said.

The Emissions Question

How low can emissions go? The past focus as has been on reducing NOx (nitrogen oxide) and particulates. In the future, the focus will be on reduction of CO2, said Christer Hedström, a director at Volvo Penta. Hedström said that environmental impact and engine performance are two sides of the same coin. You can't focus on one at the expense of the other.

The truth is, though, that diesel engines have never been cleaner. Marketing communications director Steve Nendick of Cummins stated that the their engines are not only more powerful that ever, they simultaneously meet the toughest global emissions legislation.

Electrification
After detailing the advances that have taken place in exhaust aftertreatment systems, the author underlines another main point, that although diesel technology is not going away any time soon, there will be increased adoption of electrical power that brings benefits to customers.

“We have already started to see electrification where the energy demand is relatively small and where there are good charging possibilities during a standard working day,” Hedström said.

“I think we’ll see electrification move into applications where there is an increased energy demand, but it will take some time before we’ll see it in the high-power, high-energy demanding applications.”

Overall power solutions will need to balance the mechanical, hydraulic and electric power systems, as well as cost. 

A variety of fuel sources are being explored, including
--advanced diesel
--hybridization
--full electric
--hydrogen fuel cell technology

The bottom line in this informative article is diesel, for the time being, has many advantages. Tim Burnhope, chief innovation and growth officer at JCB, noted that currently going all electric is cost prohibitive. People are simply unaware of the power needs of today's heavy equipment. It would cost $208,000 for a single lithium-ion battery large enough to power a 22-ton excavator for an eight-hour shift – not to mention the vast amount of carbon-dioxide produced in the battery’s manufacturing process.

“Diesel, on the other hand, contains more energy than petrol, natural gas, a variety of battery types and many other fuels or power sources,” he stated. “In fact, by mass, diesel contains around 54 times more energy than current lithium-ion batteries.

“Diesel is safe to be delivered to the site easily – even in remote locations,” he said. “Finally, with their high-torque nature and robustness, diesel engines are perfectly suited to heavy-duty applications, including use in construction equipment.”

If you consider the remote areas where much of this massive equipment must operate, you'll recognize that these places are quite far off the grid. Traditional internal combustion engines will remain the only solution for the foreseeable future.

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This article is an attempt to summarize an important story from 365 News. You can read the full account here at Diesel's Not Done.

https://news.conexpoconagg.com/news/Diesel-s-not-done/643.article?utm_source=newsletter&urm_medium=CONEXPO-CON-AGG-365-CONEXPO-CON-AGG-365-11th-March-2021&utm_term=conexpo365