[twobjshelbys]

Much of the cost of diesel is diesel specific taxes imposed on the assumption that taxing diesel compensates for road repairs caused by heavy trucks. It penalizes the consumer (pickups and passenger vehicles).

Just to go the opposite, during the Jimmy Carter era fuel shortages, there were huge lines for gasoline, but diesel stations were empty. So I bought a diesel Mercedes 240D. In Colorado I think it was 1977 or so, diesel was as low as 19c. That was because stations did not collect taxes at the pump but instead based on truckers logs and miles-driven-in-the-state forms. It was a few years later that the tax was collected at the pump and the truckers were livid. The cost of diesel was on par with regular gasoline, but the mileage of almost any diesel was better so the "cents per mile" ratio favored diesel. It no longer does.