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Comment by rsp1984 | Hacker News Reader

rsp1984·

Curiously in Germany Diesel is actually cheaper than regular gas at the gas station. This is because it's taxed differently. So a Diesel car saves Germans money two times (less fuel consumption and less price per tank) as compared to a gas engine car, which is why they are extremely popular over here.

That said, on an absolute level in Germany Diesel is still about 1.7x more expensive than Diesel in the US and about 2x more expensive than gas in the US.

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Same case currently in India, where petrol is heavily taxed and diesel is subsidized (Ostensibly as a farmers subsidy to run irrigation pumps but also because diesel prices are strongly tied to price of essential commodities). Price per litre is about 1 usd for petrol and 80 cents for diesel. This might change in the future as the current govt. seeks to end diesel subsidies.

Also, It should be noted that the Total Cost of Ownership benefits is not clear cut. Diesel generally has higher Miles per gallon rating, and is cheaper in some countries like India. But diesel engines are more expensive to make, maintain (bills for routine service are higher) and do require a expensive rebuild after a few hundred thousand kilometers (Newer diesel engines have got much better in this regard).

On a side note, it is quite hard to find hard data on the true TCO of cars that can help consumers make a decision.

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