Fuel-saving fuels
 

I heard a commercial on the radio today where Shell claims it has fuel-saving gasoline and fuel-saving diesel. So this raised two questions:

1. Can a fuel help reduce consumption? And I don't mean changing the octane number to fiddle with compression and timing, just filling up with the new fuel and driving off, happy that I'm consuming less. And if it is just better quality, then does this mean that Shell has been giving us lower-grade fuel, yet advertising it as "Highest quality, premium, etc."?
2. How much can it actually increase FE without help from anything else (changing driving style). Is Shell just counting on the placebo effect?
3. Is a 1-3% decrease in fuel consumption worth the 5-10% higher price? (I'm just guessing, I don't know the exact numbers.)

it could just be the grade of the fuel. I know with my car which i drive the same no matter Wat that my FE would drop 3-4mpg when i would fill up with Sunoco, but wen i went with the local ran gas station which has better grade fuel and pumps the fuel for you versus the self pump station were it costs the same at both, self pay is normally higher as well. It only makes sense just to go to the pump for you station according to same to sometimes lower price but proven mpg gains onto of it all

shell advertise up to 1 litre saving on a "tank" of fuel using their superduper "fuelsave" stuff.

I think its all they offere now, apart from "98ron/vpower" type stuff.

I dont like how they dont quantify it- even if they said, use 500ml less for a 50 L tank or somesuch. all a bit snake oil to me

Shell is a top tier gasoline, so their fuel is high quality in relation to how it keeps an engine clean. Maybe they keep going and say since the engine is cleaner it will run better/be more efficient because you use their fuel.

Whether a 1-3% decrease in fuel consumption outweighs a higher price depends on how efficient the car is and the price of gas.

Say you get 20mpg and low octane fuel costs $4.00
2% less fuel used would be 20.4 mpg
5% rise in fuel cost would be $4.20.

Originally it would cost you 20 cents per mile.
The "fuel saving gas" would get you 20.58 cents per mile.

Say you get 10mpg,
2% better would be 10.2 mpg
5% would again be $4.20
So originally it'd cost 40 cents per mile
"better" gas would cost 41.18 cents.
etc...

in a related apples to oranges story...
at work we got in a new company for maintenance services, apparently BG was wanting more for their product and no money was being made on the parts side, and the new rep. gave all the techs a bottle of in-the-tank fuel system cleaner. i'm always thinking snake oil when something like this happens. so when we were slow, me and another tech pulled in our vehicles, and ran injector balance tests with gm's active fuel injector tester. on my saturn, all the injectors were within 1% of the avg flow rate, 9 out of 10 times i fill up its with BP fuel because i have a BP card. the other tech had an '02 s-10 w/ a 4.3L, his injectors came out with -6.5% +1% -3.2% -3.3% +5.6% and +5.5%, he fills up where ever fuel is cheapest.
my results, nada... thinkin snake oil still. the other tech though, he swears he's got more power and is getting better mileage. (unfortunately we haven't re ran the balance test yet)
so maybe he goes for placebos... or maybe my good gas keeps me in better mileage all the time.

Maybe the more expensive fuel leaves less money in your pocket making you lighter, thus the increased FE from weight reduction?

If you pay with a card, then you have less on your account, so you buy less when shopping, reducing cargo weight, etc.;)

Notice they said UP TO one liter savings per tank. Probably a well maintained car that's been running good quality gas through it wouldn't see any benefit. Just my $.02 for what it's worth. Over the years I've ran all brands and the only one I've noticed that I didn't get as good mileage from was Citgo. I always run the cheapest stuff I can find as long as it's not Citgo.

Shell just puts extra cleaning additives in their fuel, that's the only real difference. So I'm guessing their claims are from keeping the fuel injectors cleaner or whatnot. I always just fill up wherever is cheapest (around here it's usually Speedway) and pour a bottle of Seafoam in the tank every 5000 miles as recommended, and it achieves basically the same effect.

So if Shell has an extra 1% of additives in their gas, then 1 liter of Shell gasoline is actually 990ml gasoline and 10ml additives? So not only am I getting less gas, but I'm paying more for it?

It's a mixed bunch, but this can go out of the Unicorn Corral, as it can work.

VAB - Studies - Studies

Total Excellium Diesel was shown to reduce FC by 3% (-3.27 %) over Shell V-power (the 0% change shows it as the reference fuel) which in turn is 1% better than the regular Shell diesel.

(Though 1% is also the fault on the test procedure.)

In Germany, Aral Ultimate Diesel is more energy efficient because it doesn't contain biodiesel, thus has more energy stored in it.


The downside is they all charge so much for the improved fuel, it's not worth the extra expense as you won't nearly get it back in improved FE.


Yes, they can :)

Fuels are regulated.
What they sold complied with the requirements.

Apparently for the test above :
shell : 1% improvement
Total : 3% improvement

You're close enough ! ;)

So no, the increased fuel economy does not cancel out the increased price.

It might be an idea for someone who wants to set a FE record, as you could get an extra 3 or 4 % depending on what fuel you use regularly.