February 2009, Work Truck - Feature

Is Diesel Still a Good Deal?

By Chris Brown

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Diesel-powered vehicles offer 20–40 percent better fuel economy than their gas-powered counterparts. This makes diesel trucks compelling arguments to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. However, when it comes to a straight lifecycle cost analysis, how does this mpg improvement affect the bottom line?

The picture has become cloudier in recent years.

Diesel fuel has traditionally cost less than gasoline, though that has changed since ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel began pumping Jan. 1, 2007. As of December 1, 2008, the national average pump price for gas stood at $2.30 a gallon, while diesel was $2.99 a gallon. This gap is not likely to shrink: Over the past five years, U.S. demand for highway diesel has risen at triple the rate of gasoline, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

The lifecycle cost experts at Vincentric performed a fleet-centric analysis on diesel models and their gas counterparts at five years and 100,000 miles. Vincentric analyzed currently available 2008-model diesel trucks and vans against their gas-powered equivalent models.

Diesel and gas models were paired as closely as possible in terms of specs, though models differ between engine types.

To achieve the totals, Vincentric measured eight cost factors: depreciation, fuel, insurance, opportunity cost, financing, maintenance, taxes and state fees, and repairs. These costs were integrated with the Vincentric Fleet Price, which estimates the acquisition cost, including fleet incentives, for each vehicle in the study.

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