The Vocal Yokel
“The world would grind to a halt without diesel – and so would the majority of Land Rovers”
The modern steam engine was invented in 1774 by Scottish engineer James Watt. It was the forerunner of the engines that drove great locomotives like the Flying Scotsman and ocean liners like the Queen Mary. But were they driven by watt engines, and fuelled by watts? Of course not. They were steam engines that burned coal.
Almost exactly a century later, in 1873, American George Brayton developed an engine that ran on paraffin. And less than a decade later, in 1885, German Gottlieb Daimler invented the petrol engine.
Paraffin and petrol were two of the products from the refining of crude oil. Please note that the two fuels weren’t called brayton or daimler. So can anybody explain to me why a third liquid from the refining process – the one known to the world as diesel – was named after the man who invented the world’s first compression ignition engine (and which was named after him)?
His name, of course, was Rudolf Diesel. He was born in Paris in 1858 to German parents, and was later educated in Munich. In 1886 he invented the diesel engine, powered initially by peanut oil. It wasn’t until a few years later that folk discovered that the stuff from the oil refinery that was too heavy for petrol, and too light for lubrication, would burn in the diesel engine. So they called that diesel, too.
Mr Diesel understood thermodynamics and knew that his engine was much more efficient than steam or petrol engines. But he was a bit naïve when it came to world politics and his hope that his engine would be used for the betterment of mankind was in vain. Very soon it was being developed to power military machinery and in 1913, with the First World War about to break out, distraught Rudolf committed suicide by jumping off a North Sea ferry.
He left behind the technology that would power the world. Just about everything on the planet is transported by diesel engines, which drive our ships, lorries and vans. The world would literally grind to a halt without diesel – and so would the vast majority of Land Rovers.
The ultra-efficient diesel engine performs particularly well at low revs, producing very high torque. Just what you need in a vehicle designed with off-road capability in mind. The development of the diesel engine in recent years has been mindboggling, with economical units available to power all cars, including family hatchbacks that will never go off-road.
For years we were told that the low emissions of diesel cars were good for the planet and our politicians rewarded us accordingly with tax breaks. Everybody was happy.
But now we find out the scientists of a decade ago had got it all wrong and today’s experts reckon thousands of Londoners are dying every year due to diesel pollution. So now the London Mayor wants a new scrappage scheme, with cash incentives for owners to send their diesel cars to the crusher.
That is massively worrying to Land Rover enthusiasts. If this plan went ahead, the pool of classic diesels bearing the green oval could suddenly become very shallow indeed.
But the writing is on the wall. An ultra-low emission zone will come into force in London in April 2019, with a £24 a day fee for some drivers. London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced there would be a £12.50 charge (on top of the existing congestion charge) for diesels that do not meet Euro 6 standards. That means diesel cars more than four years old in 2019 – in other words built before 2015.
The mayor is calling on the government to pay 70,000 van and minibus drivers £3500 each to scrap their existing vehicles and buy cleaner ones.
He also wants a £2000 credit scheme to help low-income families scrap up to 130,000 cars and £1000 to help scrap the oldest taxis.
The total cost of the scheme would be £515 million. Its supporters say it would achieve a 40 per cent reduction in London road transport nitrogen oxide emissions, which they say cause thousands of premature deaths every year.
Yet as recently as 2001 former Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced a lower vehicle tax for diesel cars because experts said they were cleaner.
Why should we believe that today’s so-called experts know any better than those experts of 16 years ago?
And how come nobody noticed these “thousands of premature deaths” back then?
If this barmy scrappage scheme does come to fruition, I urge owners of diesel Land Rovers to resist the temptation to cash in. In fact it would be prudent to wait – after all, the next generation of so-called experts will no doubt say diesel is good for us.