I COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 192, 15 August 1931, Page 10

I COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

j ENGINE CHANGE PREDICTED. ; THE DIESEL POWER. Indications in the world’s leading » automobile manufacturing centres point t to the fact that we are on the eve of . an almost fundamental change in the design and functioning of the automoL bile engine for heavy road transport, i So rapid has been the progress during > the last two or three years in the evo- . lution of a light efficient combustion-ig-nition oil engine, that the dav now ap- • pears to be not far off when this type of L engine will become standard for com- . mercial transport. The recent developments have been > really remarkable, and the weight of ( the “C. 1. engine has now been brought down as low as 131 b. of metal per horsepower, which is only a pound or so above the average power-weight I ratio of the present day motor truck > i petrol engine. . j Many of the world’s cleverest automobile engineers are now concen- ! trating on perfecting the Diesel type of engine; firms of such renown as Rolls Royce announcing that they are obtaining results beyond expectations. It is worthy of note that 80 per cent. • of the output of the great German firm, Mercedes-Benz, now comprizes machines fitted with “C-I” engines. There are already hundreds of really . efficient “C-I” heavy oil engines run- . ning on the roads in England and on the Continent, rendering efficient serr vice, and at such a low running cost of ’ fuel, that it is very evident that the heavy-oil engine will ere long be challenging the position now held by the petrol engine for heavy road transport. There are many reasons why this is desirable. The “C-I” power unit has a higher thermal efficiency, smaller fuel consumption and lower cost of heavy oil in place of petrol, almost complete immunity from fire, whilst a vehicle fitted with this type of engine has, for the same volume of fuel now carried by a : commercial motor vehicle, a far greater mileage range without refilling tanks. In England, France and Germany it is anticipated that the petrol engine," for commercial work, will be hard pressed in the near future to repel the advance of its new rival. In Australia there are already a few commercial vehicles of this type in operation on the road. Fuel is to-day one of the heaviest items in the operation costs of a motor truck, and with the high price of petrol ; it is not surprising that the automobile industry and the hundreds of owners of motor trucks in this country are watching with great interest the rapid development overseas of the heavy-oil automoblie engine. To be able to obtain high engine efficiency with fuel costing I about 5d a gallon, and from 25 to 50 ’ I per cent, greater mileage than from 11 petrol at 2s per gallon, would ensure transportation of produce and merchan- ’ dise. The purchase price of heavy oil would not likely remain at its low figure for many years, because if its use became general, the price would probably increase accordingly - just as-petrol did in the days when it was a littleneeded by-product, and was available in this country al 9d a gallon.