Going Green: Clean Diesel Technology

As America works to reduce and eventually eliminate its dependence on foreign oil, there is a push to bring alternative fuel vehicles to market. Electric, compressed natural gas and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are under development but will not be major players for several years. Diesel, while derived from oil, can serve as a bridge because of its efficiency. Vehicles travel farther on diesel, thus consuming less oil.

Diesel has not been popular on the U.S. consumer market because the engines were significantly noisier and produced smelly, soot-filled exhaust. However, new federal guidelines have produced new technology that nearly eliminates all of those concerns.

I recently tested the 2009 BMW X5 xDrive35d, a clean diesel powered sports utility vehicle. Compared to its gasoline powered version, the X5 diesel is much quieter than expected, produced no noticeable odor, and achieved significantly better fuel economy.



Clean Diesel Information

BMW Advanced Diesel

BMW offers diesel engines in the 335d sedan and X5 xDrive35d activity vehicle.

Mercedes Benz BlueTEC
Mercedes Benz offers diesel engines in ML, GL and R class models.

Volkswagen Clean Diesel

Volkswagen offers diesel engines in the Jetta, Jetta Sportswagon and Touareg 2 models.