BMW is bringing back diesel. While Americans have come to think of clouds of black exhaust when they hear that dirty “d” word, Europeans have been honing and cleaning up the technology for years as a way to combat climate change. BMW’s CEO Tom Purves says he’s seen a change in the last three years, “from the US being skeptical about diesel to being very supportive of it.” Purves chatted with Plenty about the company’s diesel coupe and SUV now available in United States.

Can you give us some background on diesel cars in Europe versus the US?
Europeans have been worried about CO2 emissions and about global warming, whereas Americans have been more concerned about particulates and NOx emissions. A method that has been used in Europe to combat CO2 is the use of clean diesel. Over the years governments have made it fiscally interesting for consumers to use diesel. This has led to a situation where European manufacturers—and particularly BMW on the performance side—have developed really sophisticated diesel engines that are nothing like the old ones that people tend to remember [in the US]. In some European markets we are now selling 60-70 percent of our volume as diesel.

High quality diesel fuel was not available [in the US] until very recently. I’m still expecting single digit percentages in terms of our total sales to start with. It’s going to be what I call a slow birth here in the States.

What’s the mileage on the diesel compared to gas?
I would say at least 10 percent or 12 percent more range on a tank of fuel. In some cases more than that depending on how you drive.

Has BMW considered marketing the car as an environmental alternative?
The contribution that diesel makes is a contribution to environmental sensitivity—there’s no doubt about that. It’s part of the way forward to comply with emission regulations and run generally greener engines.

As far as biodiesel is concerned, you can always use a small percentage of that in the diesel fuel. I think it makes a lot less sense to talk about E85, but that brings up the issue of overall energy efficiency. It might be fine in a place like Brazil where you have sugarcane. We would question whether it makes sense in heavily populated areas like Western Europe of the United States.

BMW has also promoted hydrogen cars. Is the company placing its bets in hydrogen, efficient diesel, or something else?
Nobody in the industry truly knows the solution to this whole issue of energy conservation and clean air. But it would be simple to say that hydrogen would be the end game. We are a substantial ways away from hydrogen cars. There are issues associated with distribution, infrastructure, and making the technology cost effective.

If, in 1900, I had an internal combustion car that exploded, somebody else had an electric car, and someone else had a steam car, you wouldn’t have backed me as the solution. I would have been the last one you would have backed. But actually the internal combustion engine was the solution. As I sit here now, it’s pretty difficult to predict in 15 years time what the real solution is. That’s why we have to be involved with four to five developments in order to get the best solution from each. We don’t know exactly which is the best way forward. I suspect there’s going to be more than one solution.

Posted on Mar 17, 2008 at 8:38 AM
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