I think you found the culprit. In most countries, diesel has less tax because people who use it are wasting less oil to produce fuel.

In the U.S., it's the exact contrary.

In Colorado the state tax for gas and/or diesel is 22 cents a gal. The last time I checked the US tax was 18.5 cents/gal. Or a total of 40.5 cents/gal. Not a huge part of the 3 dollars a gal price. I don't think it is taxes that make diesel more than gasoline. It could be that it takes more crude oil to make a gal of diesel than a gal of gasoline.

The federal excise tax on diesel is 6 cents per gallon higher than gasoline, and one cent of that difference is mandated for a leaking ground storage tank trust fund. Georgia state taxes one diesel and gasoline are identical.

Taxes do not add up to the 46 cent difference you posted.

-Eric

The taxation differences between gasoline and diesel at a federal level are only 6 cents per gallon, that is a drop in the bucket compared to $3 per gallon price. Most of the states the taxes are the same or very close, the only state I found that had grossly higher diesel taxes was Florida with about 13 cents more tax on diesel. Some states have lower taxes on diesel.

Here is an article that sheds some light on this discussion.
Article

State Fuel Taxes

BTW, the diesel price list for Europe you posted is over a year old. The following page is from July this year and shows the UK as having a higher price for diesel than gasoline as pipspeak stated from personal experience.

Europe Diesel prices from July 2006


-Eric

Last month's issue of C&D had an article on the BMW 330D (diesel) and according to the article, certain states including CA will have a new stricter clean air emission regulation that will pretty much prohibit sales of diesel cars (not trucks) in that state. The only one that will pass the new standard (to my knowledge) is the MB diesel E-Class which has a new CAT system which makes it cleaner burning. Therefore, it's the only diesel car available for '07 in CA, unless I'm mistaken.

You're right about the Mercedes Bluetec being the cleanest diesel car available, but unfortunately it still isn't clean enough for California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, or Maine--even with the ultra-low sulphur fuel set to become standard next month.

DCX plans to use the Bluetec engine in other cars like the Grand Cherokee, and there new urea system may be clean enough to pass in 2008. The EPA hasn't approved it yet, though. The difficulty of meeting 50-state pollution standards is really main reason we don't have diesel vehicles here.

Exactly... and if I remember correctly, the hood scoop that we know on our Sport Editions was actually used functionally on the diesel versions abroad. The air intake on those engines is directly on top, right under the scoop. Pretty cool if you ask me. No need for a cold air intake!

California, Maine, Massachussets, New York and Vermont. The high emissions standards required by these five states represent a major hurdle for any manufacturer that plans to introduce diesels-powered light-duty vehicles in the U.S. Even DaimlerChrysler has not meet these standards.

Koz

Nope, it actually doesn't.
Gasoline is more refined. The more you refine it, the less from the original gallon of oil you will have.

Wrong. The air intake is in the usual place.

The hood scoop is to feed air into the Intercooler.
Here's a pic.

Attached Images

 

You're right. From 27 countries listed, the UK, Latvia, Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Slovakia are the only ones where Diesel is more expensive than gasoline.

From your list, here are some other countries:

Netherlands: Diesel is 34.6% cheaper than gasoline
Finland: 32.4%
Belgium: 28.7%
Portugal: 23.9%
Luxembourg: 22.1%
Germany: 18.9%
France: 17.0%
Denmark: 15.6%
Spain: 12.0%
Norway: 10.8%

But I also know that Diesel fuel is less taxed because it's considered a non-luxury item, important for the economy in agriculture, transportation, industry, etc...

Re: diesel news

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by halw
It could be that it takes more crude oil to make a gal of diesel than a gal of gasoline.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Nope, it actually doesn't.
Gasoline is more refined. The more you refine it, the less from the original gallon of oil you will have.


__________________
2005 Japanese export version Toyota 4Runner Limited.
3.0L Intercooled Turbo Diesel engine.
Original Toyota 4Runner All-weather floor mats.
Original 4Runner Cargo Liner.
PIAA 90 Pro XT Driving/Fog Auxiliary lamps.
V-Kool spectrally selective window film: 70% Transparency Windshield (V-70), 28% (K-28) Windows / Sunroof.
Draw-Tite Round Tube Max-Frame hitch receiver.
Xetronic H.I.D. system on Low Beams.
PIAA Xtreme White Plus 9005 bulbs on High Beams.
Hella Optilux Xenon White 9006 bulbs on Fog Lamps.

Actually it does. Yes gasoline is more highly refined. But you get less diesel than gasoline from a quantity of crude. It may seem wrong but it is not. Think of the energy content. Diesel has more energy.

I think that depends on the country. The UK has a two-tier tax system for diesel, as I believe some other countries do. The cleaner consumer diesel is as havily taxed as gasoline but there is also commercial diesel fuel (known as red diesel) used in farm equipment and heavy machinery that is taxed less and a lot cheaper.

In some rural areas the police will actually spot check that people aren't illegally using red diesel by dipping their tanks (or removing a plug) to see if the telltale red dye is there or not. There's a heavy fine for using red diesel in passenger vehicles.

Offroader...

What kind of fuel mileage are you getting? Have you used Biodiesel yet, any plans to?

For all the non-diesel folks. Biodiesel is not the same as Vegetable Oil (SVO, WVO). Biodiesel does not require any conversion kits and is basically the chemical equivalent of D2. It does cloud at lower temps, so you'd have to run blends at colder temps.

There are plenty of Biodiesel explanations on the web that are millions of times better than mine so look it up! :-)

We love our little oil burner Jetta TDI 40 city / 50 highway...running on B20.

Oh and offroad diesel is usually high sulfer and will totally screw up the modern diesel engine of an onroad vehicle.

My onboard computer usually reads 7.5 to 8 liters per 100km in highway, as long as I drive at 50-60mph.

That's roughly 30 to 32 mpg. Our highways are not flat, though. On flat portions of the highway I usually get 35 mpg.

But remember, the engine in my 4Runner is not Common Rail or Direct Injection. A direct injection engine gets a 20% increase in power and fuel economy.

For example, the engine in my 4Runner has 129hp. The Direct Injection version they used to put in the Hilux Surf (Japanese domestic version of the T4R) generated 168hp with the same engine displacement (3.0 liter).

But due to the low quality, high-sulfur content diesel fuel available in third world countries like where I live, we get a traditional turbodiesel engine.

To counteract the effects of sulfur, I use XP3, a fuel additive that disperses water in fuel. Remember that under high pressure and temperature, Sulfur and water form sulfuric acid, which slowly corrodes the engine.

Here's a Caribbean Specification page for the 4Runner:

Toyota 4Runner Caribbean Specification

Here's a pic of the TurboDiesel version's rear. The tailpipe is stainless steel, and it points downward. It's the only exterior difference.