All right, big news: I personally was in the presence of a 2008-model Jetta TDI this afternoon! It was at the Boston “Altwheels” festival as a clean-diesel demonstrator car, and will be there tomorrow and Saturday as well for any who want to see it in person. The car was beautiful, and seemed to be set up in an unusual way. It had a 6-speed manual, a nav system, leatherette seats, GTI-style projector headlamps, really nice uplevel wheels, and of course the new-generation 2.0L Common Rail TDI, which they said is clean enough for 50-state certification.

I spoke extensively with the VW guys who brought the car there–one was an emissions chief in Michigan named Norbert, with a German accent, and the other was a government-relations honcho based in DC–and they were a little vague on the details, but at least they let me take some pictures. They said the engine has about 140hp and 240lb-ft, and would start out in Jettas but probably end up in at least the Rabbit as well, and maybe more models beyond that. From what I could tell looking at the engine (they wouldn’t let me pull the plastic cover off), it has a timing belt arrangement like the old VE-pump cars, with what might be a high-pressure fuel supply/lift pump mounted where the rotary injection pump went on the older motors. Everything else looked like it does on a current-model Jetta PD. The redline looked to be at about 4500 rpm, so basically where it is now. I have to say, this engine was so quiet I literally had trouble believing it was a diesel. It was far quieter than the new Toyota Camry gasser idling next to it, for instance. They said there is extensive exhaust aftertreatment, including catalyst, particle filter, etc, but no urea injection (a good thing, I’d say).

Anyway, these guys seemed really supportive of increased diesel presence in the US, saying that the TDIs had been selling like hotcakes with demand well exceeding supply and prices/profits very high (like that’s news to any of us).

What a sweet car! 140hp, 240ft-lb of torque, 6 speed manual, and emissions no worse than a car. Congrats also to v8volvo for having the first pictures I could find and posting them on tdiclub before anyone else. There’s a post on Autoblog that cites his post too. Check out the original post to read more and see more pictures!

Honda is finally talking more about their upcoming diesel. Already set to meet the strict California emissions standards it should be a big seller with the kind of mileage diesels are known for.

Honda’s secret ingredient consists of a catalytic converter that will generate ammonia. Ammonia is a substance with the ability to turn nitrogen oxide or NOx. Diesel engines currently use ammonia to reduce NOx emissions, but Honda has figured out a way to make an ammonia system that is self-sustaining and more efficient.

While I’m personally not Honda’s biggest fan; most of the public is. Honda has long been known for being well made and reliably whether justified or not their is no denying that. Diesels, in passenger cars in America, have always been known as unreliable, loud, and dirty. A stigma left over from the 70’s. With the recent high prices in gas VW has enjoyed a boost in diesel sales, but their are still so many people that don’t even know VW makes diesel cars. Honda will change the masses’ view on diesel cars, and subsequently help us all out. So for that, thank you Honda.

The Honda diesel is set to debut in 2009, and should get about 30% better fuel economy then a comparably equipped gasser.

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Brazil, the worlds largest producer of ethanol, is now hedging it’s bets on biodiesel. Brazil is working on ensuring that biodiesel is there way of the future by providing tax benefits and incentives to farmers, and also requiring all diesel to contain at least 2% biodiesel by 2008 and 5% by 2013.

Major companies are following suit too. Archer Danials Midland, a U.S. based “agribusiness behemoth” is building production plants across the country. McDonald’s is working with researchers to power vehicles with recycled grease from it’s “restaurants”. The Brazil state-owned Petrobras has already been selling B2 at it’s fuel stations, and investing in manufacturiing facilities.

Petrobras is also patenting, H-Bio, a new fuel that will save millions of barrels of oil by using vergetable oil in the refining process to create a lower polluting pertroleum diesel.

Brazil’s goal is to produce 840 million liters by 2008, but it’s not going to forget about the little guy. Producers that want to benefit from hefty federal tax breaks must buy 10-50% of their raw materials from small growers depending on the region. Experts, however, aren’t too sure how well it will work out since efficiency generally comes from large scare mass production.

At least it looks like they are getting on the right track, and hopefully it will at least raise some of these small farmers quality of life.

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