The characteristics of diesel have different advantages for different applications.
Passenger cars
Diesel engines have long been popular in bigger cars and this is spreading to smaller cars. Diesel engines tend to be more economical at regular driving speeds and are much better at city speeds. Their reliability and life-span tend to be better (as detailed). Some 40% or more of all cars sold in Europe are diesel-powered where they are considered a low CO2 option.Mercedes-Benz in conjunction with Robert Bosch GmbH produced diesel-powered passenger cars starting in 1936 and very large numbers are used all over the world (often as "Grande Taxis" in the Third World).
Railroad rolling stock
Diesel engines have eclipsed steam engines as the prime mover on all non-electrified railroads in the industrialized world. The first diesel locomotives appeared in the early 20th century, and diesel multiple units soon after.
While electric locomotives have now replaced the diesel locomotive almost completely on passenger traffic in Europe and Asia, diesel is still today very popular for cargo-hauling freight trains and on tracks where electrification is not feasible.
Most modern diesel locomotives are actually diesel-electric locomotives: the diesel engine is used to power an electric generator that in turn powers electric traction engines with no mechanical connection between diesel engine and traction.
Other transport uses
Larger transport applications (trucks, buses, etc.) also benefit from the diesel's reliability and high torque output. Diesel displaced paraffin (or tractor vaporising oil, TVO) in most parts of the world by the end of the 1950s with the U.S. following some 20 years later.
In merchant ships and boats, the same advantages apply with the relative safety of diesel fuel an additional benefit. The German pocket battleships were the largest diesel warships, but the German torpedo-boats known as E-boats (Schnellboot) of the Second World War were also diesel craft. Conventional submarines have used them since before the First World War, relying on the almost total absence of carbon monoxide in the exhaust. American World War II diesel-electric submarines operated on two-stroke cycle as opposed to the four-stroke cycle that other navies used.
Military fuel standardisation
NATO has a single vehicle fuel policy and has selected diesel for this purpose. The use of a single fuel simplifies wartime logistics. NATO and the United States Marine Corps have even been developing a diesel military motorcycle based on a Kawasaki off road motorcycle, with a purpose designed naturally aspirated direct injection diesel at Cranfield University in England, to be produced in the USA, because motorcycles were the last remaining gasoline-powered vehicle in their inventory. Before this, a few civilian motorcycles had been built using adapted stationary diesel engines, but the weight and cost disadvantages generally outweighed the efficiency gains.
Other applications
- Aircraft diesel engine
- Motorcycles