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Sorry to have been so long since the last entry... been a wild year for me. Let's see, what's been going on?..

Dear Dub, I'm certain that hybrids are the way to go rather than diesel for cutting down on oil use. The 2010 Prius already embarrassed the Jetta TDI in the run from LA to LV and back. Is it common in the diesel diehard community to be such a masochist that they want to see another beating?..

How about some news about a company that didn't take a bailout for a change? Ford has unveiled a new diesel engine for its Super Duty pickups that it has been quietly developing for the past two years. The new 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 engine, code-named Scorpion, weighs about 160 pounds less than the outgoing model...

No, it's not John Wilkes Booth, it's Rudolph Diesel and Audi is planning to offer two diesel models in the U.S. by the end of the year as a better way to cut oil use than hybrids and electric cars. “We’re not saying these technologies are nonsense,” Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America Inc., said yesterday in a telephone interview...

As the former owner of a 1996 Ram 3500 and the present owner of a 2005 Ram 3500, I've been awaiting this introduction for quite some time.  It was going to determine whether I hung on to my 05 or started saving for a new one. In my blog post on the 2009 Ram 1500, I noted three things that I hoped would appear on the 2010 Ram HD, and it looks like I scored on all three.  The front bumper is indeed fully separate from the body (unlike the 1500) so that auxiliary equipment like plows and winches can be installed easily.  The ST model offers an all-vinyl interior that you can get dirty.  And the front springs in particular have been uprated and it now appears that they may permit a snow-plow package for the diesel pickups (a Dodge first, Ford has offered it for years). As for the truck itself...

A couple of good articles from the November/December issue of Road King magazine that are worth a look... Color Me Safe - High visibility seat belts encourage truckers to buckle up  - more truck manufacturers are offering, and more operators are installing, brightly colored seat belts. Trying Times - During some tough years this driver discovered his resolve to succeed - a 25-year veteran of the highway shares his experiences with health, family, and finances...

Sometimes the fates conspire against you and things don't work out the way you planned. Such might be the case with Nissan's announcement of a new diesel vehicle. Nissan said it plans to launch its first clean diesel vehicle in Japan later this year and will send a prototype to next month's Group of Eight leaders' summit, where climate change tops the agenda...

TravelCenters of America (TA) and Pilot, two of the national truck stop chains, are reporting a few of their stations in upstate New York are selling diesel for (drumroll) $5.039 per gallon. Let's stop and think about this for a moment. A tractor-trailer pulls in and needs 200 gallon of diesel.  That will cost over a thousand dollars at those stations.  For ONE fill-up...

Try fueling a tractor-trailer these days.  A few months back when diesel was around $3.35 or so, I was chatting with the pump jockey at my local station about the credit card shutoff... depending on the card, it will either stop at $75 or $100.  He said "When the semis come in, I have to swipe that card 8 or 9 times." An article at CNN.com today mentions the plight of the trucking industry and the rapidly escalating price of diesel fuel: CNNMoney.com 5/6/2008 - Think gas hurts? Try diesel.  One of the stats in the article should make you take notice...

Admit it, when you think of a hyrbid vehicle you're not thinking of a garbage truck. But that's exactly what's being tested in Sweden as refuse hauler Renova is testing Volvo Truck's diesel-electric hybrid. Now the details always bother me, so I'm wondering how much the garbage capacity of the truck is impacted by the added weight of the hybrid system and batteries...