So when would you recommend which engine? It depends mostly on what you are going to use the vehicle for.
 
If you work in the construction industry and carry around lots of heavy equipment in your vehicle, and use it to tow heavy loads, so you really need a powerful vehicle, then you should look at a vehicle that offers a good large diesel engine. You just can not beat diesel for delivering that raw power.
 
Of course, with diesel there are those two built in problems. The first, of course, is that the fuel itself is not available everywhere like gasoline is. Yes, it is getting easier every year, but one still finds oneself desperate occasionally when driving a diesel. The second problem is also fuel related in that a diesel engine can be quite hard to start when it is really cold outside, or actually impossible to start if the temp gets to minus 20.
 
If the thing that floats your boat is going from stationary to the speed limit quickly then you are going to want the good old favorite gas powered engine. For anyone who wants a production vehicle, but the sportiest model they offer, then gasoline is the current standard, just like it has always been.
 
Of course, since it has been the standard for so long there are several other advantages to going gas. Gasoline is relatively inexpensive. I know the price gets crazy some times, but it has been behaving very favorably lately. Also, it is much more readily available than diesel.
 
If you just need a smaller commuter car, or if you really want to leave the smallest carbon footprint you can, then you are definitely going to want to check on electric cars.
Electric cars are still new technology, so there are a few troubles there, but the tech is quickly proving itself. Whereas just three years ago electric cars were very expensive compared to what you got, you will find this next years models priced much more in line with their gas driven competition.
 
The electric engines they are putting in now should be very reliable and actually cost less to maintain than a gasoline or diesel engine over the years. The main thing that has improved and will continue to quickly do so is the technology with the batteries.
At first it took an overnight charge to get enough juice in the batteries to travel 90 miles. That meant you had to charge it over night almost every night, and it just wasn’t going to be a good long distance car. Today’s batteries hold much more juice and charge much faster.
 
If you do go electric there are a couple of things you MUST be aware of.
 
The first I just spoke of. It takes time to charge the batteries. With a gasoline or diesel powered car you stop at a filling station, pump fuel into your tank for three minutes. Pay, and drive away. With electric you plug the car into a charging station and a long time later the car is ready to go and you can not drive it around while you are waiting for it to charge. Therefore, you must plan your daily activities. Does an overnight charge give you enough juice to drive to work and back, or must you charge it near the office for the trip home? Can one charge get you through all of your errands on Saturday, or are you going to have to split them in half and do some Sunday?
The second thing to be aware of is charging away from home. Yes it would be nice if you could drive the car all day every day then simply plug it in over night. But hey, what happens on that day when you have three or four emergency errands that just have to be run. Or, what, are you going to be without a car every single night for the rest of your life? So sometimes we will have to charge it up when not at home. I just got on the internet and searched my zip-code for places to charge an electric car. The search found seven places in my zip-code and the closest one was 19 blocks from my house. Then I did the same search same zip code looking for gasoline filling stations. It found more than a hundred, and the closest one was two blocks away.
 
One other thing I will mention is that this is still emerging technology so it is still a bit difficult finding parts or a qualified mechanic to work on the new beast.
 
The future will solve the problem. Quickly the innovative thinkers of this great country will come up with solutions. I see in the near future a system where the batteries have been standardized, meaning the exact same battery could work in any of the electric cars. They will be about the size of a paperback novel but they will be heavy. They will each weigh about as much as a two liter bottle of Dr Pepper. Most cars will have two of these batteries but bigger cars might have four or even six. They will be easy to get to in a side panel just like today’s gas cap. You will open a little access door and pop it right out. Next you would replace the worn out battery with a freshly charged one. You could then continue driving your car while the original set of batteries is being recharged.
 
The batteries themselves would cost around a hundred and a half each fully charged, but a new car would come with one full set. The charging unit would be around 25 bucks and plug into your household current. You could start each day by putting in a fresh set of batteries and putting the ones you took out on the charger. Out in the town, if you needed a mid-day charge, you would go to a convenience store toting in your dead battery and the clerk would swap it out for a fresh battery for five bucks or so. Who knows, eventually they might even be available from vending machines. Slide the old one in one end, it gets charged up and slowly slid down a line. At the other end of the line you pick out a fresh one that someone else left to charge several hours ago.
 
Who knows? Perhaps they will even have a rental of a six-pack of charged batteries for that unexpected road trip!