Diesel Engine on Indian Roads

Which diesels are you talking about, or what are you comparing them to. Diesel fuel contains more energy than gasoline per unit volume (i.e., per gallon or per liter), so with the right design of engine, you should get more miles per gallon with diesel than with a gasoline engine.

But, lots of other factors come into play--cylinder size, compression ratio, intake and exhaust port size, transmission gear ratios, travel speed, etc. A well designed gas engine well matched to its vehicle and operating conditions can do better than a diesel that is not so well designed or matched to its vehicle and operating conditions.

Thanks for the response. I am not comparing diesel engines with any other. All I am dealing with is the diesel engine but I am rather comparing 2cylinder Vs 3cylinder Vs 4cylinder. I want to know the present scenario in India for depending on the function and type of the vehicle(like bus, truck or any small load carrying vehicle like Tata Ace).

I am interested in knowing how many cylinder are beneficial for different types of vehicle and roads.

I guess you'll need to know what you want to transport and where.

The Tata Ace is a mini truck (lbs 2,000 load class) that comes with a water cooled 2 cylinder in its smallest version. (price starting @ $2,500.00).

Flat roads at moderate speed. To use it to climb you'll need to drive very slow or get more power. Check the HP's per type.

Hi dvmdsc,

I want exactly the thing u mentioned but more advanced. I want to why these 2 cylinder engine are preferred so that I want to optimize the cost with emission of pollutants and no of cylinders.

Rough guide:

Small pump, small generator, small mill, small compressor - 1 cylinder.

Motorbike - not recommennded, otherwise 2-4 cylinders.

Small car - 3-4 cylinders.

Large car - 4-8 cylinders.

Truck - 4-8 cylinders.

Boat - 1-8 cylinders.

Train - 8-16 cylinders.

Ship - 16-24 cylinders.

Reason for preference is cost/fuel economy (depends on cost of diesel vs. petrol & annual mileage).

Reason for number of cylinders is down to required output, size, refinement, cost, etc, depending on application.

Hi Holzfeller,

If u know any paper regading this information or if u hav advanced information regarding this please let me know

Er, isn't it a contributing fact that diesel is somewhat subsidised in India and is about 50% of petrol (gasoline) ? Most taxicabs are diesel driven too. Why, my IT professional friends who commute long distances use diesel cars.

KVS is right. In India diesel is heavily subsidised. It also gives better mileage, albeit at a higher maintenance cost. When kerosene from the even more subsidised Public Distribution System is clandestinely added, the cost/ ton km is even better.

Who cares for the environment?

It is just economics in India.

Since someone brought up the thought, what is the difference in performance between diesel and straight gasoline in miles/gallon? I know I am losing in MPG as they add the ears of corn (ethanol) to my gas but what is the positive difference in diesel fuel?

This won't be exactly right, but if I needed a quick rule of thumb guess, I'd find the BTU value of gas and that of diesel fuel and calculate a ratio, then apply that ratio to the mpg that I'm getting with gas.