PSA: Diesel fuel now cheaper than regular-grade gasoline
As of Monday, May 11th, the average price for a gallon of diesel fuel in the U.S. was $2.216, while the average price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline was $2.240. That's a big deal, as diesel fuel has historically cost a least a bit more than premium gasoline here in the United States. Obviously, that trend is slowly changing. Towards the end of March, there were many areas of the country where diesel fuel was less expensive than gasoline, and today, that trend has taken hold on a national level.
Although this may seem like excellent news for automakers interested in selling diesel vehicles in the States, it has pretty much proven impossible to accurately predict what fuel prices will be more than a few weeks in advance. So, while it may seem likely that automakers would be more willing to bring efficient oil-burning cars to the American market in light of these favorable diesel prices, we wouldn't recommend getting your hopes up. However, if you already own a whirling derv, you may just have enough extra scratch at the end of the week to get yourself that cup of Starbucks.
[Source: Energy Information Administration]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dukeisduke 11:05AM (5/14/2009)
I bought gas yesterday (Sachse, Texas), and both regular and diesel were $2.199
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James 11:16AM (5/14/2009)
In these here parts, near Rose Bowl fame Pasadena...diesel goes for nearly a quarter less than regular grade. It's been like this for months since the Recession took hold.
Must be some diesel glut overspill from EU...
Jason 12:44PM (5/14/2009)
It's still a good 10 cents more than 87 octane everywhere here in Dallas.
RobbieTDI 11:09AM (5/14/2009)
"diesel fuel has historically cost a least a bit more than premium gasoline here in the United States."
what? Diesel has historically been cheaper than regular unleaded in the US.......only until recently (the last year or two) have we seen prices of D2 make leaps and bounds above gasoline......good to see it settle down, but doubt it will last.
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Kumar 11:26AM (5/14/2009)
Maybe that's due to what part of the country you live in. In Indiana, over the last 10 years since I started paying attention, it was more around and over the level of premium gas.
We definitely see the manufactured demand increase in the winter due to the "use of home heating oil/diesel". So it probably all boils down to refining capacity more than anything.
I think it will take the feds doing something like pegging the price of diesel to premium fuel to make any auto maker bring mass quantities of diesel to the us to joing the VW party. Then we may actually see some new refinery action going on for the first time in a few decades.
gus 12:22PM (5/14/2009)
that's what I remembered too! Before the gas price skyrocked, it had always been diesel cheaper than gas. Now it's just back to the old trend.
Harley Cook 11:09AM (5/14/2009)
It would be nice to see the United States get their act together about having more clean diesel fuel available. Then the general population can enjoy the high milage vehicles that Europe have.
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g 12:09PM (5/14/2009)
Don't all US retail outlets sell ultra low sulphur diesel now?
Harley Cook 12:33PM (5/14/2009)
Capacity is a huge problem
Jake 1:06PM (5/14/2009)
Diesel engines may be more efficient, but it is far from cleaner. Unless you put a bunch of expensive equipment on it to scrub the exhaust for a 50-state legal diesel.
The exhaust from a modern gasoline engine is much cleaner than a diesel.
That One Person 4:30PM (5/14/2009)
You have to look at perception. People still have this idea that car diesels still smell like old Mack trucks.
Diesel was how much cheaper than regular for how long and I rarely saw any diesel cars tooling around. You would think with VW being pretty much the only mainstream car company with diesels, they would be selling them left and right. But I have seen maybe two or three diesel Jettas within the last couple months.
Aloysius Vampa 11:13AM (5/14/2009)
For the tenth time.
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why not the LS2LS7? 11:23AM (5/14/2009)
I noticed this a few days ago here. Diesel was running between midgrade and premium (which is very low for around here) and now is $0.05 cheape than regular gas even.
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cliff 11:28AM (5/14/2009)
I bet the reason for this is that we have hundreds of regulated formulas for gasoline, particularly summer gas, while diesel is more standardized. The problem is that gas is too high, not that diesel is low.
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Neil F 11:57AM (5/14/2009)
Diesel has only historically been more expensive than gasoline if you're talking "recent" history. Up until the 70s gasoline crisis, diesel was historically cheaper than regular, and usually by a pretty good margin. Diesel is cheaper to produce compared to gasoline, and it's only because of taxes and supply/demand that it should be more expensive than any grade of gasoline.
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Swede 11:57AM (5/14/2009)
No no no. Don't buy diesel. Because if you buy diesel, demand will go up and I'll have to pay more for my diesel.
*waves hand*
You don't want diesel. These aren't the droids you're looking for.
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EXP Jawa 11:57AM (5/14/2009)
Diesel is still more expensive here. And the two gas stations in my town are charging $2.39 (Kwik Fill) and $2.45 (Mobile) for 87 octane gasoline.
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dukeisduke 12:00PM (5/14/2009)
IIRC, one big reason for the spike in diesel prices was the switch to ULSD (15ppm) diesel. More expensive to refine.
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atc98092 4:10PM (5/14/2009)
Don't blame the switch to ULSD. That only added 4-6 cents per gallon.
Henry 12:03PM (5/14/2009)
So now that diesel is back to being affordable, making a positive business case for the more expensive engine, we can look back over the past few months at the diesel engine programs that have been canned:
GM 4.5L diesel on-hold/canceled
Accord diesel for the US, canceled
Ford 4.4L diesel, on-hold
Dodge 5.0L diesel, delayed
Someday, we will get an energy policy in this country that uses the fuel tax to moderate fluctuations in the price of gas and diesel.
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