Diesel vs. Gasoline

[ols1932]

I decided to start another thread concerning the fuel prices because I think we're missing something when we just talk about out of pocket expense, so I did some calculating.

Fuel Prices—Diesel vs. Gas

It seems that we all get alarmed when diesel prices go up and stay up so much higher than gasoline. But my research reflects that if we have to worry about prices then we might as well sell the rig and buy a stick house to live in—with no travel.

In following the inputs of various RVers, I’ve found that the diesel owners get on average 9 to 11 mpg whereas gas engine owners get on average 7 to 9 mpg. I don’t think anyone has taken the time to determine who is getting the best of it. Let me shed some light on it.

Using a figure of $2.50 per gallon for gasoline and $3.00 per gallon for diesel, I think you will be surprised. I took the middle figure of 8 mpg for gas engines and 10 mpg for diesel engines in my calculations.

Over a 100 mile trip, the gasoline engine will take 12.5 gallons, costing $31.25, Over the same 100 miles, the diesel engine will take 10 gallons, costing $30.00. So you can see that the diesel engine runs cheaper and on top of that you have the engine longevity of the diesel engine.

The break even point between diesel engine fuel usage and gasoline engine usage is when there is a $.60 per gallon difference.

Based on this, even though we don’t like the cost of diesel fuel, we are still making out better than the big V-10 engines.

Orv