Diesel electric hybrid would be completely uneconomical. First, a diesel engine that meets Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standard costs at least $3000 more than a gas engine of comparable power. The Tahoe 2-mode hybrid is approximately $10,000 more expensive than the non-hybrid model. Add in the diesel engine, and the initial cost is even greater.

Further more, the main area where hybrids give added efficiency is in the city, with a lot of stop and go traffic. Gas engines are particularly uneconomical when idling. So the Prius uses a very economical atkinson cycle engine on the highway, shuts off the gas engine at idle, and uses the high torque electric motor to add torque when accelerating from a stop.

In contrast, diesel engines are much more efficient than gas engines at the idle. Diesel engines have much more torque than gas engines. So while the electric motor dovetails nicely with the weaknesses of the atkinson cycle engine, it is mostly duplicative of the strengths of the diesel engine. Consequently, I doubt that a diesel hybrid will really have that much added benefits over a simple diesel.

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Electric assist hybrids are just dead weight on the highway.

Any mileage improvements you see there against a conventional car are coming from the narrow, low traction tires and aerodynamic tweaks.

Or on the EPA treadmilll test, coming from the fact they aren't trying to simulate constant speed cruise.

With a diesel you might be able to get this beast to 30mpg on dead flat pavement at 40mph.

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Probably a lot more. It wouldn't make sense for Toyota to stick a mild hybrid in their truck. I was surprised when GM did it. I also don't recall Ford ever having a hybrid truck.

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2-3MPG with gas at these levels is substential over time.

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I agree, matte paint jobs usually look terrible, but that looks flippin' sweet.

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That's not flat. It's not even eggshell. It's satin.

I dunno if it works for me.

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Diesels higher cost is not due to any extra refining cost. It's due to U.S. refineries being designed to maximize gasoline production per barrel and not diesel.

If enough diesel powered cars and trucks are sold in the US, some producers will meet that market need with more, and cheaper diesel fuel.

Diesel engines typically last a lot longer than do gasoline motors, so there is that cost savings to factor in as well.

Toyota's going to need other upgrades, like a stronger frame, on the Tundra if they want a bigger slice of the commercial market.

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so AngeloD, are you saying that with increasing demand, the prices will go down? Another thing is...do you really seem them cutting gasoline production to make more diesel and then charging you less for it?

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Diesel is essentially a waste product of refining gasoline, there was a time when no one wanted it and it was cheaper than tap water, now everyone wants it and it's as expensive as hell. Until renewable replacemnts come along the price of diesel is always going to be higher than gasolne because you get less of it out of a barrel. The up side is that bio-diesel is less of a pipe dream than bio-ethanol.

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@Shawn...
i dont think you get what he was trying to say, look at is this way (excuse the rhyming)
if a refinery can only product 10 units of either gasoline and diesel in any combination, but they're finding that the demand for gas is up 50% whereas the demand for diesel is only up 20%...they're probably go from a 50:50 mix to a 70:30 mix. (Production possibilities curve...economics).
So since demand is going up for gasoline...and the supply is going up as well, you're going to see an upwards shift in price, which we have obviously seen. But since the demand for diesel has gone up, but the supply is also down (ouch) you find demand up, supply down which will give you an even larger increase in price...which we have seen also.

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Which doesn't meet Tier 2 Bin 5 and is thus irrelevant for the US market.

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That engines also doesn't have urea injection either. Using urea injection, it shouldn't have an issue meeting Tier2 Bin5. The other option is licensing the Honda urea-less technology.

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Tell that to Mercedes. They couldn't meet LEV II (tier 2 bin 5) on their BlueTec E-class despite using urea injection (and it being a smaller motor) and thus had to lease their cars in California, they could not sell them. Do you think they are just bad engineers with Diesel?

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Mercedes doesn't sell a diesel with urea injection at this time.

Bluetec urea injection

The Bluetec, non-urea injection was 42-state legal. The Bluetec with urea injection is 50 state legal.

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