Shell claims new "FuelSave" gasoline formulation increases fuel economy

[aerohead]

If fuel injectors,fouled over time by mediocre gasoline could lose you 2% mpg,and you offered a gasoline with a detergent package ( like Techroline ) which could clean,and reverse the 2% loss,then,could you claim that the fuel 'improved' mpg by up to 2%?

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by aerohead

If fuel injectors, fouled over time by mediocre gasoline, could lose you 2% mpg, and you offered a gasoline with a detergent package ( like Techroline™ ) which could clean,and reverse the 2% loss, then, could you claim that the fuel 'improved' mpg by up to 2%?

...yes, but only until the "effect" wore-off and there was no longer ANY improvement because the injectors were finally "clean."

...however, because most drivers have 'short' attention/memory spans, maybe it'll work for Shell or Mobil or Chevron or Exxon...or not.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by werner

The FuelSave replaced the normal Euro95 gasoline, but Shell also sells the V-Power premium gasoline and diesel in the Netherlands; The V-Power fuels are sold at a premium price...

I've taken a look at the Shell website, it seems we're also getting what Shell calls Eurosuper 95 with Economy Formule, that's probably the FuelSave in the Netherlands.

[pascal28]

Shell said that, from a scientific perspective, most cars in the UK had the potential to save fuel by using petrol which contained a Friction Modifier, or diesel which contained a Combustion Improver, such as the Shell petrol and diesel FuelSave fuels. They said that was based on the ability of a Friction Modifier to reduce friction in petrol engines and of Combustion Improvers to reduce ignition delay in diesel engines. They said both of those phenomena were well known and accepted throughout the global fuel science and automotive engineering community

Shell said the substantiation showed that 60% of the cars tested achieved fuel savings of 2% or more, and that in their view the test findings indicated that the 2% benefit was potentially available to the majority of UK motorists. Shell said the unleaded fuel had also been tested in on-road vehicle testing in the UK. They said that over six of seven routes, cars fuelled with FuelSave used less fuel, in one instance measuring a saving of almost 3%. They said that there would always be uncontrolled variables in such tests that would make the outcome unpredictable, but the balance in favour of FuelSave was persuasive.

Link gives more info including Advertising Standards Agency response:
ASA Adjudication on Shell UK Ltd - Advertising Standards Authority

[MetroMPG]

Thanks for the update!

He said / she said. Shell stands by their methodology, yet the advertising standards body critiqued it on multiple points, and ultimately ruled that the advertising was misleading:

"We noted that tests were carried out nine times on each car, and that the results showed that only two cars achieved average fuel savings of at least 2%."

It's not clear from the description if the testing was dynamometer based, or "in the wild". It sure seems to me like they did on-road testing. Can of worms!

[euromodder]

A local high school (Karel de Grote if memory serves me well) put various "eco" / premium fuels on a dynamometer - only Total Excelium diesel showed a small benefit (2% ... with about 1% error margin).

Nowhere near what's needed to offset the premium price.