Hi folks
endless questions on the powering of a GA aircraft! AVGAS was cursed dead after no lead policy became paramount. Swift fuel and Shell have a solution close at hand and UL102 seems to be a suitable FAA fleet wide certified replacement for ASTM D 910 types of fuel.
Anyway a lot of eyes are on diesel right now! After the huge impact the faulty measurements of almost all automotive diesel engine producer, and the entry of TESLA and Co to the electric driven cars, things go fast.
Toyota announced that all new car model launches will stop offering diesel variants, since exhaust requirements and required investments to meet them are not reaching the break even point anymore. German car industry admits that Diesel is a dead end road and will be replaced by electric or gasoline/hybrid models!!!
Since no big company seems to invest a lot of money anymore in diesel development, how does this affect the future of GA diesel engines?
Does anyone know if mercedes is also shifting its effort to non diesel propelled vehicles?
If so…whats the impact on diesel engines? I know that diamond takes part in a huge EU funded project for electric propelled aircraft engines, but know idea how far they are?
Dont get me wrong on this, i think ther is hardly any impact the coming 5-10 years, but what happens if you purchase a new diesel aircraft, and in lets say 10-15 years you want to sell it again!!! but the main source for diesel engines (automotive industry stopped diesel production for small scale engines) disappeared? Can thielert or AE actually ‘produce’ their engines, without receiving a base model of the A-class 2 litre Diesel?
Daimler (Mercedes) announced the introduction of at least 10 electric cars under its (new) EQ brand. EQ will produce cars but also “energy solutions” – wall batteries, charging services etc. The brand will be jumpstarted with a 1.1bln investment in battery technology and production. No specific comment on diesel.
The tooling to build an engine can be bought – after all most R&D costs will have been amortized by then.
I can well imagine small diesels for cars going away over the next 15-20 years. Petrol engines are already getting pretty close in most respects to diesel without having to cheat on emissions to do so. Even my 2007 petrol Honda Civic will do better than 50MPG (5.6L/100km) on a motorway trip and newer petrol cars are getting better than this.
The main advantage of a diesel for aviation is the ability to burn Jet-A fuel, especially if AvGas were to disappear as some prophesy. I am not holding my breath for 2-3 litre diesels of 100-200 HP, but would not be surprised to see a much bigger diesel engine appear as an alternative to the PT6 and similar turboprops, to power single-engined executive planes à la PC12 and paradroppers, and twin-engined small airliners like the B-1900 or Let-410. Lower fuel burn would make such an engine both more economical and less environment-unfriendly.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
…but would not be surprised to see a much bigger diesel engine appear as an alternative to the PT6 and similar turboprops
No way. The time for big piston engines is over. A PT6 develops close to 1000hp. A diesel piston engine of that power which must reach a TBO of 2000 hours will be so enormously heavy that it is really only good for ships…
And regarding no more aviation diesel engines after the car manufacturers stop making them: Lots and lots of motorgliders and homebuilts are powered by Limbach engines. These are modified VW Käfer (Beetle) engines, out of regular production since 15 years (in Mexico). It seems to be possible to make them even if the original car engine is no longer produced.
There aren’t that many Lycoming or TCM powered cars on the road….
AnthonyQ wrote:
There aren’t that many Lycoming or TCM powered cars on the road….
No, but most of the current aero Diesel engines are converted car engines, because obviously the development cost of a completely new dedicated engine is too high for the number that can be sold.
The announcement of the death of the Diesel engine is vastly exagerated. The automotive industry needs diesel engines to reduce CO2 emissions. There will be more choices of powertrains next time we get a new vehicle, not like just diesel or gasoline like during the past 4-5 decades, but Diesel will be one of them but for the smallest cars. I wouldn’t be too worried the 2L block goes away anytime soon.
I give you the short version, I could write several pages on the topic.
AnthonyQ wrote:
There aren’t that many Lycoming or TCM powered cars on the road….
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AnthonyQ
EGPD / OMDW / YPJT
Joe_90 wrote:
Lycoming powerd car
{insert emoticon for ROFLMAO} 
