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Originally Posted by Fred g
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The trucking and railroad industry learned a long time ago that diesels are the way to move anything heavy. Why hasn't this been applied exclusively to motorhomes?
Fred
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Trucking and railroad, like most any industry, is driven by costs; primarily to lower costs in order to maximize profits.
Diesel engines were historically more expensive to purchase, but lower in cost to operate. So for trucks and trains which operate many hours annually, diesel is the clear winner over long periods of time. Their higher initial cost is saved later in fuel and other costs being lower.
By comparison average motorhomes are not driven as much as commercial trucks. That makes it more difficult to recoup initial cost based on fuel savings.
By the way, if not for higher fuel consumption, gasoline engines could be made much larger with higher power and torque outputs. But how many people would need a 10-liter gasoline engine? Not too many. Yet 15-liter diesels are common in trucks.
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