Over the past hundred-plus years, transportation technology has evolved tremendously. Today, there are all kinds of means to get around and transport goods, from automobiles to boats and planes. A particularly notable innovation that has made commercial travel easier is the diesel engine, which, as the name implies, runs on diesel. Diesel fuel is more expensive than gasoline by a wide margin, though it burns much slower, making it ideal to power larger vehicles intended for longer treks like freight trucks.
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In the modern era, diesel trucks and machinery can be found everywhere. They’re produced by numerous companies, and there are several incredibly powerful diesel trucks on the market in 2024. Of course, such machinery didn’t simply appear out of thin air. Diesel trucks have been a work in progress for over 100 years. Their story dates all the way back to the year 1923 by a now-defunct company known as Benz & Cie. Little did the engineers behind it realize the enduring impact they’d have on the automotive world in the following century.
This is the story of the world’s first-ever diesel truck, courtesy of Benz & Cie., as well as the close second from Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG).
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Benz & Cie.’s diesel truck was a game-changer
By the 1920s, automobiles were becoming increasingly common sights. The first truck was created a few decades earlier in the mid-1890s by Gottlieb Daimler, but it wasn’t taken as the be-all and end-all of this technology. There was still a desire among automotive enthusiasts to innovate, with the folks at Benz & Cie. turning their attention to what lies under the hood. As capable as gasoline was, diesel burns slower and is far more efficient. Therefore, figuring out a way to make a truck run on a diesel engine would be a huge accomplishment — one that Benz & Cie. soon achieved.
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The 1923 Benz & Cie. diesel truck came with a four-cylinder OB 2 engine, which allowed it to reach 45 horsepower at 1,000 rpm. Not only did this engine prove vastly more conservative in its fuel consumption compared to its gasoline counterparts, but it was also advertised as being able to run on other fuel types ranging from gas to paraffin oil. Meanwhile, that same year, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was on the verge of greatness with its air-injection diesel engine truck offering. Its four-cylinder engine got 40 horsepower at 1,000 rpm, impressing at its first public exhibition in Berlin that October within a truck, bus, and three-sided tipper.
Benz & Cie. and DMG were undeniable trailblazers in the world of diesel trucks. Their efforts paved the way for the first diesel-powered passenger vehicle that hit the streets in the 1930s.
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A diesel-powered passenger vehicle wasn’t far behind
A mere few years after introducing the world to their diesel trucks, both Benz & Cie. and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft were in for quite a shakeup. In 1926, the two companies merged to become Daimler-Benz, which is known in the modern era as Mercedes-Benz. With this transformation, the desire to explore diesel-powered vehicles didn’t diminish by any stretch. In fact, it didn’t take the company long to see what the engine type could do in non-trucks. In 1936, the two diesel pioneers that became one unveiled what’s recognized as the first diesel-engine-equipped passenger vehicle in history, the Mercedes-Benz 260 D.
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It featured a four-cylinder engine with just over 44 horsepower at 3,200 rpm and was, as one would hope from a diesel engine, quite fuel efficient. It could traverse roughly 248 miles on a full tank, with later tweaks allowing it to pass the 310-mile mark. This mileage made it an ideal choice for taxi drivers who, naturally, sought to save money in their line of work. All these years later, the engine behind it is recognized as one of the obscure diesel models that made automotive history in their time, and Mercedes-Benz has continued to make more powerful diesel engines.
Now, over a century beyond the debut of the first diesel truck and almost 90 years since that of the first diesel passenger vehicle, it’s hard to imagine roadways without them.
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[Featured image by Johannes Maximilian via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]
