Diesel Efficiency Slowing Electric Cars

Despite suggestions in recent weeks that the government would be clamping down on diesel engines and performing a U-turn on them as “greener” alternatives, there are still plenty of reasons for diesels to be the commercial vehicle of choice, according to some experts.

A few weeks ago we reported the news that new plans for “ultra-low emission zones” in some of Britain’s major cities was set to see increased congestion charges applied to diesel-powered vehicles.

For many fleet owners this was considered a harsh U-turn on the tax incentives that the government had originally brought in to encourage more drivers to move away from petrol engines to the lower CO2 emitting diesel engine. And with more than 11 million diesel vehicles now on the roads, this perceived “betrayal” has caused a serious financial headache.

According to experts from car giant Mercedes, however, we can expect diesel vehicles to have a major role to play on our roads for many years to come.

Managing Director of Mercedes Benz Vans, Steve Bridge, believes that improvements in diesel engine efficiency in commercial vehicles still makes them a more economically viable option than electric vehicles for the foreseeable future.
At the unveiling of the new Mercedes-Benz Vito, Bridge said:

“As we go further down the road of optimized diesel engines, it might become more difficult for pure-electric vans to demonstrate their cost-effectiveness.

“With the Vito E-Cell we were pretty rigid on price when it was introduced three years ago, but since then we’ve been able to add a little more flexibility. We’ve realized that they work very well for some operators and we have satisfied customers particularly in London.

“But for other van operators, even if we could give them away, they wouldn’t want them.”

Why is this the case? The new diesel Vito offers fuel consumption improvements of up to 20%, and this kind of advancement makes a strong case for diesel vans over electric alternatives.

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