According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a> (EIA), \u201cmost of the products we use are transported by trucks and trains with diesel engines, and most construction, farming, and military vehicles and equipment also have diesel engines.\u201d Diesel fuel is also used in combustion generators that provide backup power to all manner of industrial facilities, large buildings, cell phone tower equipment, hospitals, and electric utilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In decades past, diesel vehicles were considered dirty and smelly, but auto manufacturers worked hard and made progress \u2013 \u201cclean diesel\u201d became a thing, leading many to consider diesel an improvement over gasoline for many use cases. According to Bell Performance<\/a>, customers who drive many highway miles \u2013 for instance, fleets and long haul trucking – often prefer diesel engines over those running on gasoline because diesel is up to 30 percent more efficient on roads than gas engines. Diesel cars also tend to be more durable, requiring less maintenance due to fewer components than gasoline engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alas, \u201cfewer emissions\u201d are still hazardous emissions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, \u201cGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation account for about 28 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor of U.S. GHG emissions. Between 1990 and 2018, GHG emissions in the transportation sector increased more in absolute terms than any other sector.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n And that doesn\u2019t even account for the smog-producing emissions called NOx and Particulate Matter. During the early lockdown phases of the current pandemic, the world saw the difference made by not having those emissions in our atmosphere. We did a bit deeper dive on all of this last year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rise of the battery-electric vehicle \u2013 and its limits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter the battery-electric vehicle (BEV), which has many of the benefits of diesel vehicles while being zero emission. Interesting Engineering posted an article<\/a> in June 2020 comparing the two, with some interesting, but not unanticipated, results: \u201cIf we are talking about carbon emissions, fuel efficiency, noise pollution, and air quality, then EVs are clearly the outright winner. If, however, we are talking about torque or initial price, then diesel-engined cars will win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The largest issue in terms of efficiency for businesses is driving range \u2013 and for backup power, runtime. As BEVs power larger vehicles being used in fleets of all kinds, space normally devoted to cargo goes to battery storage in order to get the kind of range needed, which drops the efficiency number significantly, while adding cost. The same can be said for stationary power using batteries \u2013 in order to add runtime to a facility during an extended outage, more batteries must be purchased and stored on site, taking up valuable rented footprint and adding cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"GHG](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/_FjZ_eod6Pvw2MLE7HmOfrZ279W-frSPTN77VMHNbgEe18AeTdIhr6flSAcaZ71Y4SgosSLxlw97eyoqjW2dn_EuDyuN_Q1cGy2et_N-DBcuph-i6C3ZtSZqfwHNvd3FJbP8P904\")