The Vexatious Fuel Issue
The diesel-powered cars are facing an uphill task as the government wants manufacturers to stop making diesel cars and concentrate on petrol and electric ones instead.
Last month I did two long-distance drives, one in a diesel luxury SUV and the other in a petrol luxury SUV. The first drive was in the BMW X7 40d from Pune to Udaipur (Rajasthan) and back. The second one was from Nagpur to Pune in a petrol luxury SUV. The drive to Udaipur and back comprised 1,900 kilometres and it took me 14 hours each way of non-stop driving except for re-fuelling and a quick bite. I spent Rs 20,000 on fuel to cover the aforementioned distance. The second drive in the petrol SUV from Nagpur to Pune consisted of 650 km and the cost of fuel came to Rs 13,000. While the diesel SUV returned 9.5 kilometres to a litre, the petrol SUV returned 6.5 km/l. The petrol SUV had an easier time because we were on the Samruddhi Expressway for 70 per cent of the drive where you do not have to slow down and then accelerate to get back to cruising speed. This is my personal experience of real-world fuel efficiency of diesel and petrol SUVs. Going by it, we should be encouraging diesel cars instead of petrol cars. Imagine if I were doing this drive in an electric car. It would take more than 24 hours to cover the same distance. We need to look at diesel hybrid engines, for they would be the most efficient and green compared to an EV or a petrol hybrid car.
The reason why we encounter such bad drivers on the road is because people obtain a driving licence without having to submit themselves to a stringent test. The driving school instructor drives the car and gives the test with the learner sits next to him in the car. The nexus between the officers conducting driving tests and driving schools should be investigated and this practice should be stopped immediately.
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