When you read that headline, you probably assumed this article would be about battery powered devices and – specifically – about the endless having to think about how far you can’t go before you have to stop and wait.
Well, its not about the wait.
If you caught my article the other day about dealing with the running-low DEF tank in the ’25 Ram 2500 diesel I’m test driving this week, you’ll know this truck – like other new trucks equipped with diesel engines – has to be regularly topped off with DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) else it will brick.
Almost.
You can still drive it – unlike an EV with a empty battery – just no faster than 5 MPH. Which amounts to the same thing, doesn’t it? One could walk just as fast down the shoulder but the upside is at least you can carry a jug of DEF back to the truck. It is much harder to carry kilowatt-hours back to your bricked EV. But the difference is the same, isn’t it? In both cases, you are limited as regards how far you can go and have to make plans for avoiding waits.
In the case of the DEF stuff, you have to keep track of what’s showing (in the case of the Ram 2500) on what appears to be a secondary fuel gauge on the left side of the instrument panel. This is the DEF tank gauge. Like the EV gauge that shows you how much charge you’ve got left, it shows how much DEF there is left. As you get close to “E” you will begin to get flash-warnings in the center of the instrument panel that warn you if you don’t get DEF within so-many-miles-to-go, the system will encourage you to get it by rendering the vehicle essentially useless because what good is a vehicle that cannot go faster than 5 MPH?
A riding lawn mower is faster.
So – how much range have you got?
When the Ram was dropped off, the flash-warning said I had about 160 miles of normal driving range left (notwithstanding the full tank of diesel fuel in the main tank) before the truck’s speed would be reduced to no faster than 5 MPH. So – effectively – even though there was enough diesel in the main tank to drive the truck 500-plus miles, I was limited to about 160.
After a roughly 50 mile drive, it was down to about 100. 
In order to avoid being down to 5 MPH – which would have meant a five hour drive home to cover the 25 or so miles at 5 MPH – I bought 2.5 gallons of DEF, which comes in a box like cheap wine. This is enough DEF to roughly half-fill the DEF tank, according to the gauge. What’s the Ram’s range now? According to what I have been able to suss out on Ram truck owner forums, a full tank allows about 8,000 miles of driving before you need fresh DEF. The range apparently varies according to how the truck is driven – very much like an EV’s does. The upside – vs. an EV – is that if the range is less than you thought it was, it’s easier to get DEF and be back on the road in less time than it takes to instill even a partial charge in an EV. You pull into a Wal-Mart or auto parts stores that sells the stuff and you pour it into the DEF tank. It’s a good idea to carry a funnel such as the ones people use to get oil into an engine without spilling it all over the engine. The DEF box comes with a cheesy little funny that makes it all-but-certain you’ll spill some of this nasty fluid on the truck and yourself, too.
But the whole mess only takes about 5 minutes or so, which is much faster than how long it takes to partially charge an EV. Even so, you’re still tethered. It’s just that your leash isn’t held as tight.
There’s another commonality here worth mentioning, too. That being the grift. A whole industry has been created – via the force of government as opposed to the wants of the market – for DEF. It is very much of a piece with the EV “fast” charger grift, which uses funds expropriated from taxpayers – most of whom do not have and do not want an EV – to build out fast” charger kiosks for the few who do.
The difference, of course, is that people who buy diesel-powered trucks want them – and do not want the DEF. Evidence of the latter being the extremely common practice of “deleting” the DEF and related peripherals. No one – this is not an exaggeration – wants the DEF system. If it were optional, no one would choose to buy it. But they have to pay for it – if they want the diesel-powered truck – because the government forces the manufacturer to install it and charge for it.
Meanwhile, the DEF industry profits from it. Each box of DEF sells for about $16 and if you extrapolate that to encompass all the DEF-equipped trucks out there that are forced to need it, you can see what a tidy little grift it is.
It is not going too far to say that government itself is one big grift. If only it could be “deleted.”
. . .
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How Much Range?
Just saw a Tesla driving with the windows down in the hot afternoon.
You know the reason why. Using the A/C, as one would do in a normal ICE vehicle, sucks up too much r-a-a-a-a-a-n-g-e in an EeeVee.
So EeeVee victims have to sweat bullets in the hot, hot sun, like the cucks and chumps they are. Sad!
Good stuff, Jim – I just got into this today (this morning) in the new column just published!
I’ve heard that DEF has expiration dates. Whether that means it really goes bad or it’s just a marketing scam to get people to buy more, I don’t know. But it’s something to think about, that maybe it’s not a good idea to stockpile it long term.
Since before the “Covid” psyop in 2020 the message already came through to European car manufacturers that diesel was going to be phased out for small autos, concurrent with the message that EV’s had been chosen for the future, and along with peak propaganda for Netzero and agenda 2030.
By 2016 every European manufacturer of diesel autos had switched over to “DEF” (Addblue in Europe) due to Euro6 Nox and particle requirement Fiat, Peugot/Citroen and Opel, all now part of Stellantis, were also manufacturers of small diesel engines starting at about 1l displacement. The Fiat Panda 1.3l 3cyl diesel (also 4×4) in all its variants is a great, exceptionally efficient small car. Renault also made great small displacement diesels, their famous 1.5 also being used by Mercedes and other manufacturers.
All that is no more. Small diesels have disappeared and only more expensive luxury cars and SUV’s still offer larger displacement diesels with DEF. It is my opinion that this is an even bigger waste and loss than the loss of large displacement Hemi V8’s. The V8’s were dinosaurs anyway, and that was their main attraction.
Small, efficient diesels would have had a very promising future, but we are only allowed EV. All across Europe, gone in the lapse of a couple of years. Thank you Jews.
I think Skoda is still selling Octavia’s with the 2.0 TDI, VW’s last stand out for efficient and long range diesels for the middle and lower classes.
BMW, Mercedes, Audi and the other premium luxury SUV and auto manufacturers have all gone to the ultra long range service intervals with the new oils and lubricants. 20,000mi and even 25,000 miles between services. Their diesel models also now all come with 20-25 (5 gallon) liter DEF tanks. This allows the premium luxury diesel SUV’s manage an entire service interval on one single tank of DEF. The factory dealerships where you really have no choice but to get your car serviced at, especially if it is still under guarantee, will gladly top off your DEF tank charge 200% the market price for manufacturer specific DEF. But the point here is that the owner of a new luxury diesel SUV in Europe with DEF never has to worry about topping up the DEF tank.
When the Gov buys diesel trucks, they do not have this DEF system. That tells ya something. Not sure about light duty pickups like 2500’s?
‘Each box of DEF sells for about $16 … you can see what a tidy little grift it is.’ — eric
Almost as good a grift as ethanol:
‘The steep growth in 21st century ethanol consumption was driven by federal legislation. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required use of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 raised the standard to 36 billion gallons of annual renewable fuel use by 2022. Of this requirement, 21 billion gallons had to be advanced biofuels, defined as renewable fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%.’ — Wikipedia
Readers will note the distinct Soviet flavor of these sweeping diktats. Somehow, 535 rum-soaked, coke-snorting, booty-chasing Congress Clowns knew that exactly 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel would be required by 2022.
One wonders why these omniscient beings don’t also specify the annual grain harvest, electricity production, mining output and so forth. After all, it worked so well for Joe Stalin!
DEF is made necessary by the addition of an unnecessary “catalytic converter” to modern diesels. The also added a power robbing diesel particulate filter which requires a periodic session of extra fuel injected to cause them to burn off the accumulated soot.
I am told (wink) that when you delete a truck you get rid of all this high maintenance, back pressure inducing, and heavy equipment. When the delete is done, I hear you cannot see or smell a difference as they do essentially nothing to what is already a clean, efficient design.
Another wonderful thing is that when you run in a very cold climate the DEF system will malfunction and shut down your truck. It happened to me with my 2014 RAM Ecodiesel, he first wine box of Wally World DEF caused it to start throwing codes.
“It is not going too far to say that government itself is one big grift. If only it could be “deleted.’ ”
Well, it could be, if there were enough of us with guns and the guts to do it.
While the guns are there, the guts seem to be sadly lacking. De Tocqueville had it exactly right.
I remember a couple years ago when there was a supply chain issue and a real chance that one of the routes or manufacturers of Urea fluid was going to be cut off/ not available. That can stop commerce or slow it to 5mph in most of the country and is an unnecessary vulnerability.
I think that Iran is a major exporter of urea (at least up until now). The latest doings over in those parts may end up monkey-wrenching the supply chain again, as well as that for agricultural fertilizers.
Every time I need to put DEF in my car – I wonder, what is the “carbon footprint” of this boondoggle… imagine all this stuff being manufactured, shipped around the world in trucks, put into nice canisters (i buy the one with a nozzle that fits the nozzle on my car). those cannisters shipped around. Then the canister thrown away. Then all the extra tanks and on my car along with the relevant components to this….
does it really offset the miniscule amount of NOx, which breaks up in the atmosphere in a short while anyways !!I
Around Texas, Buc-ee’s has DEF available via a pump nozzle at their newer stations.
I haven’t looked, but I wonder how the customer avoids putting the DEF into the gas tank. Nozzle size/shape?
That is probably a Patent too.
The real sin of Volkswagen which drew the attention of Uncle was “clean” diesel without DEF.
There are these DEF pumps here in the UK too – but it seems you cannot use them for a normal car (only for “commercial vehicles”).
Hi Nasir,
I hope you are doing well. 😊 If you don’t mind would you share your thoughts on Iran, but especially the ongoing escalation between India and Pakistan? I like hearing from people that are smarter than people me on certain subjects and I know you are familiar with the region.
Hi RG, all well, thanks. Im definitely not smarter than anyone here, though can give my thoughts on what I see / hear from friends and family out there. For Pakistan / India, it seems like this time it was Modi in India loosing popularity domestically and with an upcoming election needed to “do something”. So a false flag was arranged, and a guy turned up and shot up a bunch of tourist in the mountains of northern India. Now if you look at the details there is very little evidence a guy from Pakistan went over given the amount of security in the area. many other signs of a false flag, like the guys they said got killed still being alive….
To “do something” Mr Modi ordered an attack on a village in Pakistan killing dozens of civilians (ofcourse they were declared terrorist). We then retaliated by shelling back into Indian territory, killing some there, which is when the jets got involved. In the next few days of dogfights and drones its hard to get verified details of what happened, according to Pakistan we shot down 6 of their fanciest French jets using our Chinese kit, and destroyed the Russian S400 missile defence system. India initially said we didnt hit anything, but later they accepted some planes had been hit (not stating how many). On our side we officially say only a couple civilian villages got hit – but I hear a couple of air force bases had hangars and airstrips hit by Indian missiles. The whole thing I find quite unfortunate- as im sure people did get killed on both sides for nothing, and a bunch of taxpayer money was wasted, and ofcourse most people on both sides dont have much to spare…. What I did find most interesting is how Pakistan using modern Chinese equipment was able to shoot down apparently much more advanced french jets (at least two have officially been acknowledged by the french). I guess it’s a wake up call for the west – the Chinese arent just making cheap knockoff radios and watches anymore….. And if there ever was a real war (God forbid), it may not be as easy as the west imagines.
Which brings us to Iran – I guess I dont need to get into the history going to the Wellesley clark 7 and why I think its happening, but what I find interesting is that Pakistan and Iran officially had issues and disputes over land and other things and were generally quite cold to each other. But when this kicked off – it seems Pakistanis and even the government are very strongly supporting Iran, which is something I didnt expect. The pakistani government has gone as far as saying we will support them with our nuclear weapons if someone attacks them with nukes. I suspect this is because apparently some senior Israeli officials have said that after Iran they have to take care of Pakistan… I also suspect thats why Trump invited the chief of our army for lunch a couple days ago to make sure we’re not sharing our nukes 😂😂.
Either case I do hope this thing cools down soon, as it is very worrying. I guess thats how I would sum it up… love reading peoples insights here about these things as well!
Thanks, Nasir. I find the most honest and truthful assessments are everyday people who actually have to live through this.
I am glad to know the Pakistani and Indian altercations have simmered down. As you stated it is innocent people that get killed and taxpayer money that is wasted. False flags are not just conducted by the USSA and Israel. I am sure governments everywhere participate in pulling the wool over their citizens eyes.
Also, it is important to know that the Chinese are manufacturing well made military equipment. Hopefully, the USSA realizes China is a formidable opponent.
I appreciate your insight. I hope everyone in your family is doing well and is safe.
Has anyone out there tried substituting something else for the DEF fluid like say windshield washer fluid or can the computer tell the difference and shut the truck down?
Well, DEF is a solution composed of 32.5% high-purity urea and 67.5% deionized water. You could easily make your own, as urea is widely available and is used in many chemical reactions, such as the production of concentrated ammonia. I keep some in my “chemistry set”, and order it by the pound from Amazon, but you can get large amounts cheaper from other places.
I was curious if the system could tell the difference between fluids.
Yes it does, there are youtube videos where it was tested
I did a little research and from everything I can tell, the ONLY components are urea (extremely pure urea is essential, farm-grade isn’t pure enough), and de-ionized (DI) water. I would imagine distilled or double-distilled water would be perfectly fine, but the important thing is the water must be free of mineral contaminants.
The most important part is the ratio – 67.5 / 32.5 are apparently a “golden ratio” and straying even a half percent either way can screw things up. It also has to be completely homogeneous, and you should do a fine filtration afterwards to remove any remaining particulates is another important step.
A search on “Yandex” for “making your own diesel exhaust fluid from urea and water” led to quite a few good sources of info.