Transport & space · 1897

Diesel engine

Compression ignition delivers the efficient, high-torque engine that moves world freight.

Rudolf Diesel's 1897 engine reached about 26 percent efficiency, far ahead of steam. Diesels took over ships from the 1910s, locomotives from the 1930s and trucks after that. Nearly all container ships, freight trains and heavy trucks still run on them.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Internal combustion engine 1876
Carnot's heat engine theory 1824

What it led to 1

Containerization 1956

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Merchandise exports as a share of world GDP Latest: 24.2 % of GDP (2014) Source: Our World in Data

Crude oil price since 1861 Latest: 435 current US$ per m3 (2025) Source: Our World in Data

Fossil fuel consumption Latest: 144k TWh (2025) Source: Our World in Data