Shell gasoline saves gas?

[Stringer]

The full story

Now the question is, has someone tried that new gasoline with Prius and does it really improve MPG or is the record entirely based on the economical driving style (hard to belive with that car)? Oh, and I was unable to find any news about the new gasoline formula around Shell's US site, so I have no clue if you are using that yet or not.

[mikepaul]

Google brings back stories from Singapore and Malaysia about the new formula, but none in the US.

I guess we wait and see...

[hdrygas]

53 in a jetta apparently. I think we need more data? Shell do you hear me. Give me about 10 fill ups and we shall see. On the other hand is the Kitchen too hot for you!!

[darelldd]

Where does it document how they shoved more energy into a gallon of gasoline? I don't buy it. Just like we see a huge range in mileage from different Prius drivers - there is plenty you can do to stretch the miles on one gallon of gas. Can have very little to do with the fuel itself.

[jmpenn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ May 5 2006, 12:04 AM) [snapback]250064[/snapback]</div>

Where does it document how they shoved more energy into a gallon of gasoline? I don't buy it. Just like we see a huge range in mileage from different Prius drivers - there is plenty you can do to stretch the miles on one gallon of gas. Can have very little to do with the fuel itself.
[/b]

Yeah. This is telling. "...used in conjunction with our FuelStretch programme - can help every driver, everywhere with simple techniques to achieve major savings in fuel consumption"
Sounds like driver training to me.

[JackDodge]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Whitestar @ May 5 2006, 01:14 PM) [snapback]250304[/snapback]</div>

Yeah. This is telling. "...used in conjunction with our FuelStretch programme - can help every driver, everywhere with simple techniques to achieve major savings in fuel consumption"
Sounds like driver training to me.
[/b]

Like those diet pills that say to be 100% effective, you have to exercise and eat less

[kDB]

used in conjunction with our FuelStretch programme[/b]

wonder what kind of mods they did to the car. i would assume they stripped out as much weight as possible. and also they may have done an ignition kill mod with a manual. then pulse and glided. so they could accellerate, kill the ignition, then just pop the clutch when needed to start the engine again.

a bit of a stretch, i know. but it is defintely not a stock VW.

[PriusDad]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ May 4 2006, 09:04 PM) [snapback]250064[/snapback]</div>

Where does it document how they shoved more energy into a gallon of gasoline? I don't buy it. Just like we see a huge range in mileage from different Prius drivers - there is plenty you can do to stretch the miles on one gallon of gas. Can have very little to do with the fuel itself.
[/b]

'Gasoline' is not a single formulation or molecule. Gasoline from different refineries will have different blends of the organic molecules that come under the umbrella of 'gasoline.'

Testing a number of years ago already showed Shell's formulation to have a higher BTU content than other gasolines. The 'BTU' stands for British Thermal Units, and is a measure of the amount of usable energy content in the fuel. The higher the BTU content of a fuel, the more miles per gallon you will get.

It is possible that Shell has come up with a new formulation that increases the BTU content of a gallon of gasoline. It's also possible that the new formulation has the same BTU content as the previous formulation, but burns more completely. Or the new formulation could have a combination of both higher BTU content and a more complete burn.

Clearly, as members of this forum know quite well, driving style makes a huge difference in the mileage one can achieve. The only way to really tell if there is something to this new Shell formulation is for a driver with a given driving style to log a number of miles with this new gasoline and with another, and compare the results. Comparing one team's results using a new formulation and driving style to the results for an average driver using the current formulation is basically meaningless.

Peter.

[ghostofjk]

Shell knows full well that there are way too many variables for their claim ever to be tested in everyday driving.

The claim can only be verified with bench-testing, using the same engine(s) with all testing conditions controlled.

What would be hard about doing that, Shell?

[ceric]

I showed this piece of topic to my wife and she refused to believe it.
According to her, and myself as a witness, Shell gas gives our Odyssey the worst mpg compared with 76 and Chevron. She is the driver of our Odyssey for busing kids around (a lot of short drives). Her routines are quite fixed. Very few unusual routes. According to her, when fuel light comes on, she usually see about 210 miles with Shell gasoline and about 220-230 with 76 and Chevron (all with grade 89). I have seen it myself a few times. This is by no means scientific but we are still tracking this. <_<