Many motorists are still unaware that 91 RON unleaded petrol is to be phased out in NSW by 1 July 2011. Its place will be taken by the existing E10 ethanol blend.
In February 2007, the State Government made several commitments “to promote renewable biofuels in New South Wales.” Part of that commitment was to introduce an E10 mandate, which implies that all regular unleaded petrol sold in NSW from 1 July 2011 will contain 10% ethanol – specifically, from that date, “a primary wholesaler must not sell regular unleaded petrol unless the petrol is E10.”
Many service stations across the state are already not selling 91 RON. Before using E10, vehicle owners must check if an ethanol blend is suitable for their vehicle – this information can be found in the owner’s manual, by contacting NRMA Motoring Advice or on the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries website.
For cars that cannot use E10, premium-grade unleaded petrol will continue to be available.
What are your thoughts on E10? Will you use E10 or switch to a premium-grade unleaded petrol?
I won’t use it, as it increases your fuel consumption and I find that using the 95 octane premium gives better results, for the car and my pocket.
I’ve had an early 90′s model falcon where the entire fuel system corroded due to this junk. Now we will be forced into paying more for 95/98 fuel.
Filled up at my local Shell servo last week, and found no regular unleaded available, so used E10, but this was at the usual “cheap Wednesday” price for regular unleaded.
Was handed a flyer that listed all of the Shell servos that still supplied regiular unleaded, so went to the nearest one to check out the prices. Surprise, surprise.
This servo still had E10 at 4 cents per litre lower than the regular unleaded price.
Another oil company rip-off.
When all the regular unleaded is gone, we’ll be paying the same price for E10.
SO MUCH FOR GREEN
I have recently started filling up with Shell unleaded+10% ethanol (old unleaded yellow pump) as a trial, I drive a 2009 Honda CRV, keep a complete history of all mileage and do around 45K per year average. Results are significant, I get on average 10% less performance per tank before the low petrol indicator is on (530km in lieu of 590km), my driving habits are very consistent and what this means for me if I continue with ethanol blend.
I am purchasing 10% more fuel to travel the same distance for what amounts to a saving of 3~4 cents per litre cheaper, lets say 3% to be generous at around $1.30 p/l.
Am I using less unleaded petrol
NO, I USE EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT BECAUSE I AM BUYING 10% MORE UNLEADED PETROL – NO GREEN EFFECT
Am I paying more for the privelage
YES – 7-9% MORE OVERALL
Both the oil companies and the Government win, not the community or our environment.
I am all for renewable energy, but the renewable energy must be cost effective and can be measured as a contributor to the community.
Renewable energy companies of BIO fuels must be smiling all the way to the bank having convinced our Governments to go down this path.
Make unleaded+ethanol 12~15% cheaper, then we have a case to argue.
I will be going back to regular unleaded.
Shell claim their ethanol blend is 94 octane (Gov min is 91 octane) but I doubt it given the figures and lower car performance.
I ran a test and my Commodore used about 10% more fuel with E10 compared to regular unleaded. At $120 a litre the price of E10 needs to be 9 cents a litre cheaper than unleaded in order for the cost of runningthe car to remain the same. I wrote to the state Governemnt about this and asked if they were going to take a cut in the taxes they got off E10 but thgey have not answered me. Going to Premium would cost even more as the car’s consumption is about the same on that as regualr unleaded.
I’d like to see the NRMA start a campaign to get the state government to cut its taxes so the introduction of E10 is a no cost exersise to motorists.
How about this little nugget from the recent budget laid down by the Rudd Government that you might have missed – an increased fuel tax on ethanol!
The Rudd Government calls it – “an energy content-based fuel excise system”.
What this means is an excise on ethanol fuel of 25 cents per litre starting from the 1 July. It is expected to make $276.5 million over the next four years.
The Government says that this is to off-set the grants paid to local ethanol producers, which are to be reduced from 22.5 cents per litre from July 2011 to nothing by 2015. Funny however that this doesn’t mean that the tax will be abolished in 2015, instead the tax will only go down to 12.5 cents.
Now, NSW is set to get rid of the cheaper, regular unleaded and people are forced/encouraged/guilted towards Ethanol based fuels and bingo, a new tax at 25c a litre!
How much will that make E10 at the bowser come 1 July?
I will still use premium grade. It’s better for your motor. If you spend tens of thousands on on a car, why not spend an extra few cents on good petrol?
4 years ago I used bio-fuel in my diesel ute. The results I got were disgusting to say the least. I lost at least 15% power and about 18% economy. Over 2500 kms it cost me more than using normal diesel even though, at that time the bio was 11¢ cheaper. I had trouble towing a trailer.
Bio fuels and ethanol are just plain rip offs.
The price of crude oil has dropped about US $15.00 per barrel in the past couple of weeks and is still going down. So when are we going to see lower bowser prices? Fuel prices have certainly gone up in the past few weeks, so is this just another rip off concocted between the oil companies and the Government? Another case of a tax on a tax on a tax, just like the luxury car tax is a tax over and above the GST and it taxes the GST.
E10,,,,,,,,,, I have noticed a significant drop in engine performance using E10. Naturally this will equate in a drop in economy which will equal more fuel used which will negate any (( there is none )) benefits from using E10. A poorly performing engine is not the best way to improve performance therefore economy. DAH…
Ethanol is an abrasive compound and detrimental to the environment due to it’s ability to decrease product life.
Please don’t allow these trade secrets out to our Governments as they are not going to understand them..
The politicians blindly introduce bills in parliament solely to increase our Bills and therefore taxes and that way they have more dollars to waste…
Use only what you consider the most beneficial to use in your vehicle.
My experience with E10 has been costly. I wanted to support the local outlet so used E10 in my V8 on his advice that it was suitable. Not only did I get reduced mileage and power but in time it ruined the engine. Subsequently switching to higher octane fuel and fuel injector cleaner was ineffective as the damage had been done.
The outcome – having to exchange a comfortable, good car because the estimated cost of repairs made keeping it unviable in view of its vintage.
I’ve also experienced a 10% drop in maximum distance between fills from using E10 in a 2000 Subaru Liberty, so changed to premium for better economy. The slightly lower price doesn’t offset the increased fuel consumption and the slight increase in power is roughly the same as I get with RON95 fuel.
I agree with many of the above. I went on board withE10 when it first came out and found that I was getting 60 KM less per tank on a regular basis. I switched back to unleaded. This was avery disappointing result. I am saving to buy a prius
(second hand of course) in an effort to be more fuel efficient, and try and work within a budget.
My other concerns is that biofuels are being grown at the expense of food crops.
I had no choice but to fill with e-10 on tuesday. Primium unleaded was 12c dearer [e-10=$1.30lt, super u/l=$1.42]. to fill up at this rate with 50lt is $6.00 extra for super u/l. When reg. unleaded disappears altogether, will super come down or e-10 go up? [I think the public knows the answer to that question]
Is this going to be another price hike by the oil company’s.
Meaning that will there will only one price on petrol that can go up when ever the oil company’s get greedier?.
It would be a good thing if you the NRMA pushed to get the price rises included in the cost of living because when the price goes up the workers that have to use their car to get to work to earn a living they loose that money out of their wages.
Regards G Rowley.
I used E10 in my lawnmower [4stroke] last year, after half the lawn was done, the mower kept conking out and I had to restart it again and again.
I fineshed up buying a new mower because I thought th mower had had it. After some weeks I used the old one again, but with regular unleaded,
lo and behold, the mower never even stopped once
I am still using the old mewer now without any problems, the new one is in the shed, spent $630. for nothing thanks to E10, that was money I could
ill affort to spend from my pension.
Its now easy to see who’s side the government is on & its not the motorist’s.
This is a complete rip off and as a pensioner I will have to pay premium prices to fill my car. Don’t like E10.
I live in the ACT so our prices are higher than in Sydney so they can get more money out of us.
I run premium 98 octane unleaded fuel in my car, have been since i bought it. Will never run E10 in it as I don’t want to ruin the motor.
I have been useing both regular unleaded and 95 E10 in my Territory for the last 100,000 km, it didn’t seem to make any difference which fuel I used, I got about 540 km to a tank . Lately I have switched to 95 PULP, the car seems to go a bit better and I get upto an extra 40 km from a tankfull.
I know I wont get aywhere with it, but I am going to send a letter to my local member telling him that I will be holding them responsible for repair costs to my engine through the use of e10.
Lawn mowers, whipper snippers,and such like, gave me nothing but trouble whenever I used E10,,, But of course the Authorirties never considered this unimportant aspect of our daily life. A great amount of money = ( energy and raw materials ) in repairing and /or replacing these products. What a costly hoax E10 turned out to be. Thank you bright sparks who sit in government,you are doing a wonderfull job.Don’t we all agree ???.
I am writing this to be helpful, not critical.
I have done a fair bit of research on fuels for cars lately to get the best I can out of my two cars and have found that it is VERY important to check what fuel your car can run. Many cars are unsuited to E10 but all will run on premium unleaded.
My two cars are a Jeep Cherokee and a Hyundai Sonata. The recommended fuel for the Jeep is E10 and I get very good performance and economy when it is run on E10, however living in the country E10 is not always available and the premium does the job ok but not as well. Standard unleaded is hopeless in this vehicle, very poor performance and economy. The Sonata on the other hand has a recommended fuel octane rating of 92 and up. I have been running it on premium for some time now and although there is no significant different in performance my fuel economy is Excellent. I wouldn’t consider running it on E10 as it is not recommended for it. Keep in mind that I live in the country with rough roads and very hilly conditions, not city traffic.
It is also important to make sure your car is tuned to run on the fuel you are using. Your engine can be destroyed by a higher octane fuel if it has not been tuned to run on it as the higher burn temperature makes it run leaner, this is particularly so with E10. If your engine has a fair bit of wear play it safe and just run premium.
The things that should be noted are that it is very important to check what fuel your car, etc can run on and that you have to run at least one full tank of fuel and refill with the same again before you will see the true results as there will be some of the old fuel still in the tank no matter how low the tank is so you will still be running a mixture of fuel until you refuel again.
As for the cost, well it is all too expensive, especially at country prices. The fuel companies need to be made accountable for their pricing and as for the taxes I would like to see the benefits from the tax we pay on our fuel, rego, etc. This includes local shires as well as I have seen our shire council waste so much money on not doing the road works properly only to have to do it again and doing things like spending $400,000 on tiles for a round a bout instead of fixing a road that has killed many people. The government need to get tough on themselves and the people who waste our taxes and organisations like the fuel companies who do what the like
I don’t agree with this and i have used fuel with high octain in a v6 4wd that i used to have and 146,000 km and i never had problems and it is the other way around and i have used 98 octain in the lawn mower and gardening equipment 2 stroke and 4 stroke and boats in and outboard motors and had no problems
I went to europe in 1990 and the octain is for regular unleaded is 95 premium is 98 octain and petrol is twice the price that is in Australia and thats why most cars are diesel and diesel is a lot cheaper
What a rort? Who are the ethanol companies paying off?
Can’t believe I’m either going to have to wreck my car’s engine or pay for premium. GRRRRRRRRRRRR
Personally, as far as my cars go I wont have to worry, both my cars run on diesel. If I still had petrol engine vehices I don’t think I would be running the E10, probably the 95 RON instead, but I would not be happy with paying 15 to 20 cents more per litre for the 95 RON. Wasn’t that long ago I remember there was only 5 cents per litre difference between 91 & 95 Octane. What happened there?
I went to the local shell servo this week to buy some petrol for my lawn equipment. No unleaded anymore just the E10. It had a warning on the pump – not suitable for outboards or lawn equipment-What do I use now? 95 I suppose, I will have to do some research to make sure, but once again I will be paying more for it. And it is funny that once the normal unleaded goes, the E10 becomes the same price that the unleaded it replaces was. The politicians, the oil companies & the ethanol industry must think we are all stupid. I thought the elected representatives were supposed to make decisions that represented the views of the majority, not the vested interests of the ethanol industry / oil companies.
All of the material that I have read from both sides of the argument have not convinced me ethanol blended fuel is of any significant benefit to the environment or that it does not have any detrimental affect on the engine / fuel system. If the fuel efficiency of ethanol blended fuel is less, & you have to burn more to travel the same distance, where is the benefit to the environment or the pocket. If more land has to be cleared to plant more crops to produce the ethanol, where is the environmental benefit from that.
Well to finish off, I can take satisfaction that the 95 RON that I would have switched to if I still had petrol engine vehicles, is more expensive than the diesel I am using in both my vehicles, so I now I will be even better off having made the switch to diesel 18 months ago. But for how long, wouldn’t be surprised if the oil companies or Government find some way to make me pay more for that too.
Anyway I think the Government has got this change to E10 wrong, & I think their should be an outcry. Maybe it is not too late to reverse it, if public opinion & organisations like the NRMA that represent the interests of the motoring public gets behind it. It seems that this initiative was pushed through with little publicity or consultation with the motorists of Australia. I only became aware last week when I went to get fuel for my mower.
I would like to thank all those above for thier acurate and informing reserch that I have taken the time to read and am now well informed as the the bull that the govenment is trying to get us all to step into, it stinks. If the govenment of NSW thinks this is a good idea…..then we shall see…as i feel what they want us to step in will be hard for them to get of thier blankets.
Come on everybody…THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE. or when we do our tax can we include any repair costs due to the damange done by this E10 fuel as a deduction??????.
I know, “tell him he’s dreaming”.
Thankyou everybody.
i thinks this is a good idea…I would like to see the benefits from the tax we pay on our fuel, rego, etc. This includes local shires as well as I have seen our shire council waste so much money on not doing the road works……..
sophia
Hi, I used to have a 87 Mazda 929 2 door 4 cyl and that was round 04 – 06 when the ethanol petrol started to become popular, as the price of fuel had gone to $1.50 or so a litre. I had heard many stories that the eth would ruin all the seals in the fuel system, but being on a pension at the time I decided to give it a go. I had been filling up with Shell using the 4c/litre discount dockets, but my car had been running pretty badly when doing so. The first time that I filled up on 95 octane ethanol, I instantly noticed the difference- my clapped out Mazda suddenly had power!! Not rubber burning by any means, but it stopped running rough and I could actually overtake another vehicle on the highway…WOW. A few friends of mine use the 95 too. One has a performance Commodore, no problems. That”s all, regards, Glenn.
I’ve tested E10 on various long highway trips, using E10 one way and regular unleaded petrol the other way. My car’s trip computer shows 10% less fuel efficiency when using E10. Added to this, it seems misguided to be encouraging (and subsidising) the growing of crops for fuel rather than food.
Can anyone with knowledge, not hearsay, tell us VW Kombi (1970′s)owners what effects the much more expensive 95 petrol will have on the performance (and pocket)? Does it need rejetting and timing change?
As usual, the govt and fuel producers rip us off!
Most Japanese car makers specify most of their cars with regular unleaded and can achieve great kw ratings compared to Europeans.
Will this mean that the entry point of petrol will start at the current ‘premium’ levels or will the extra sales volumes reduce the prices. We’ll never know with the crazy fuel fluctuations will we?
I did not bother about E10 unleaded until recently when my regular petrol station stopped selling unleaded petrol. It was very clear that the fuel economy dropped more than 10% when used E10 unleaded in my car. I then decided browse the internet to find documentation which would comment about the effect on fuel economy due to use of E10 unleaded. I looked up the following websites which were vague about this topic.
http://www.woolworthspetrol.com.au/content.php/29.html
http://www.colesexpress.com.au/shell-fuels/shell-unleaded-e10.aspx
http://www.colesexpress.com.au/shell-fuels/shell-unleaded-e10.aspx
They are all vague about the topic because it is not in their interest. I was looking for a statement to assure that the there is no impact on the fuel economy.
I agree with the two key points made by Richard Aichinger and Les above:
1. There is no benefit, whatsoever including environment, of using E10 unleaded. This is because you have to use more fuel to drive the same distance. (Point made by Les)
2. The price of E10 unleaded will catch up with the price of unleaded. (Point made by Richard). Actually it has already caught up.
It seems that introduction of 10% ethenol blended unleaded is a rip off by oil companies in collusion with the government !!!
I have tried e10 in both my cars, a 2004 jazz and a 1999 forester gt, the jazz used 12% more so that would be unsustainable and the subaru used 10% more, so we use more or the same amount of ulp plus the ethanol and the energy to product the ethanol, how can this help the enviorment not to mention my pocket.
I can not see any benifit on using E10…
E10 bad for cars… poor performance… increase consumption of fuel…
People don’t care about their car and want cheap fuel will still use e10..
People care about their car will choose to upgrade and use unleaded 95…
The only reason that i can see government doing this is to help Big International oil companies rip off Australian….
And may be reduce the Co2 emission LITERALLY….
If the government really care about the environment..
They should reduce the greenest car’s buying tax… and the green slip fee.
Why isn’t the NRMA lobbying the NSW Govt to revoke this e10 law? I’m amazed it is not a major election issue as it quietly effects so many of us with significantly increased fuel & maintenance costs.
I don’t think the opinion of an “NRMA spokesman” as recently reported in the Northern Star newspaper is accurate.
http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2010/07/31/standard-unleaded-fuel-on-the-way-out/
An NRMA spokesman said that by and large MOST VEHICLES would run fine with E10, but if in doubt he recommended motorists check with their vehicle’s manufacturer. “Generally it is okay for vehicles made after 1986, unless the manufacturer tells you to use high octane,” he said. “Vehicles made before 1986 will require high octane petrol, as will those made after 1986 that are not suitable for E10 fuel.”
Even if it is “MOST VEHICLES”, and that’s debatable, there must be tens of thousands of vehicles registered in NSW that shouldn’t use e10 because it will actually damage them and invalidate their replacement new parts warranties.
Have a look at the long list of vehicles that should not use Ethanol on the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries website. Everyday you will still see many of these not so old cars on the road.
http://www.fcai.com.au/publications/all/all/all/3/can-my-vehicle-operate-on-ethanol-blend-petrol-
In our family’s case with a 1992 Toyota Torago & 1994 Toyota RAV and a 1996 Toyota Starlet only the RAV can use e10. And it really doesn’t run well when we do use e10 in it.
Only after two very costly fuel pump failures & replacements a few months apart last year in our 1992 Toyota Torago were we told that e10 not only ruins fuel pumps very quickly but invalidates the 12 month warranty on these parts!!
The FCAI website doesn’t mention the issue of e10 use invalidating warranties on new parts and the NRMA fails to consider the large numbers of vehicles on the road that should not use e10 never mind the higher price & reduced availability of service stations selling regular unleaded.
In addition e10 can be bad for many boat engines, mowers, chainsaws and other small 2 stroke engines.
If the NSW Government really wants to encourage a local bio-fuels industry (the stated justification for this stupid e10 law) simply lower taxes on its producers and at the pump for users of it.
I have a new Honda motorcycle which I usually run on Premium 95 or 98 when I can get it. But that is not always possible and often have to use reg unleaded. Most motorcycle manufactures (for road bikes) do not permit the use of E10 in their products. So does this mean we can send the State Government the bill when we purchase petrol at small servos that previously only had RULP and now only have E10, and stuff our bikes.
I don’t normally contribute to these sorts of comments, but I can not sit back and ignore the absolute rubbish contained in most comments above. Ethanol, when compared to conventional “regular” Unleaded Petrol (ULP) has a higher octane rating, lower energy conent per kg and lower mass per litre (density). The combination of these last two attributes (actually two ways to express the same thing) is effectively 3% less mass (kg) per litre. Fuel injection systems meter by the kg, not by the litre and the driver adjust the throttle, and hence the air flow and hence the fuel flow rate, to achieve the power required. Hence one can expect fuel consumption to increase by about 3%. In fact, the difference is usually a bit less due to energy losses under some conditions, such as at idle. Any increase in consumption over 3% is not due to ethanol. E10 blends have a Research Octane Number (RON) of 95 (near enough) and thus can be used in any of the growing number of vehicles which operate more efficiently on 95 RON (all recent Europeans and many Japanese, even some Australian built), subject to ethanol compatibility (note: two issues here, ethanol and RON). Using 91 RON in a vehicle designed for 95 RON will decrease efficiency and power and increase emissions and consumption, although possibly only marginally. Using 95 RON in a vehicle designed for 91 RON will make no perceptable difference, except cost the owner more if Premium Unleaded Petrol (PULP) is used. Higher RON fuels need a higher temperature/pressue before self igniting (pinging). Pinging is to be avoided. The flame or combustion temperature is not an issue. And running hot does not cause an engine to run lean, running lean can cause an engine to run hot because the lean mixture does have a higher combustion temperature. For most car operation the lamda sensor is monitoring the oxygen level in the exahust and adjusting the fuel flow rate to achierve the correct fuel ratio (hence the 3% increased in consumption), which alternates between slightly rich and slightly lean to keep the catalyst operating. Using E10 in a ethanol compatiable vehicle designed for 95 RON will save the owner the cost of PULP which more than offsets the potential 3% increase in consumption. Especially whilst E10 is cheaper than ULP (yet alone PULP) as it is in the ACT. Forecourts which have a limited number of fuels, and which do not offer 95 and/or 98 because they offer E10 and ULP will now have a tank/pump available for 95/98. Single fuel outlets will switch to 95.
Our local servos have dropped RULP and sell E10. I rang the company from whom I purchased my garden equipment and was told that using E10 in either the 2 stroke whipper snipper or the 4 stroke mower will cause damage.
They say that adjustments to both can be made to allow for use of E10 and negate any problems. Pity the government didn’t look into all aspects of E10 usage before making their decisions.
I have a 2007 SV6 commodre i tried E10 fuel & found the fuel consumption was very mich higher than RULP. The greening efect is negated by the higher consumption.
The cost to the average user is going to be much higher for E10. If iuse PULP same thing higher costs.
The use of E10 will not reduce the greenhouse effect as stated due to higher consumption.
I will only use PULP when RULP is no longer available, to be fazed out by end july 2011 .
If the government was fair they would reduce tax to make it more competive.
When will the price for fuel come down in line with the cost of crude, it goes up very quickly but only comes down when they feel like it, NOT VERY FAIR, just another to RIP off the public. The government is to scared to act for fear of offending the fuel producers.
Regards
Hilton
If i have another petrol 4wd i would only use pulp and it ran better rulp and both my perrent’s use 98 pulp and they have to with having high compreshion v8 engines and i have used 98 octain pulp in a 2 stroke outboard motor and a 4 stroke outboard motor with double overhead cams 115 hp 1.8 litre and a ohv petrol v6 4.3 litre stern drive in a boat. I went to europe in 1990 and we brought a car and bring it back to australia and when buying petrol and all you can get is 95 or 98 octain and the out put power on petrol over there is amazing when driving at 230 km/h at 5800 rpm it leaves petrol in australia 10 to 1 and it is like that all over europe and back then petrol was around au$3.00 a litre over there and here in brisbane when i got back petrol was around au$0.59 a litre and when we got the car when it came to us the car didn’t run the same as it did when it was over there and pulp octain here in australia was max 95 octain and in europe that is reguler unleaded and petrol in europe is very expencive compare to australia and europe most cars are diesel and i wouldn’t go back to petrol in a car and i enjoy driving a diesel with all of the toque they projuce and i would like to see a diesel ford falcon and a holden commerdoore
As an average person not knowing the complete formula’s of these fuels from those who have written above ,I can only say that we are governed by the those so called experts from over seas . What is seen or heard overseas means we have to have it here. We are not our own country anymore ,we are a copy cat nation. Our road conditions and climate are different to over seas. Imported cars are not set up for purely our conditions we get what they make.
The E10 to me does not make one bit of difference in the Toyota 6cyl Sportivo (2008) I have . It was just serviced a couple of weeks ago so I thought I’d do a comparison on ULP to E10. Travelling to and from work totalling 90km round trip over 2 weeks found no difference in the mpl only the price. Someone tell me different but I looked at it as if you put 10% of cordial in a glass of water, would you only know it was there by a slight colour difference as I think you wouldnt be able to taste it . Therefore could this be the same in your tank. Maybe showing why I didnt get a difference in fuel consumption.
A better fuel does mean better consumption does it not or is it only what the Goverment and Greens want us to believe. Does this also mean as far as mowing equipment you use PULP in 2 strokes and will this cause any probs due to the higher octane. We are only the puppets and as petrol is a need to have, we have no say if we need the new stuff or not. Funny when you look at it as Super /Std Petrol was dropped as it was high in lead. Funny that ,back then we had cars that wouldnt run on the new stuff as well. So we went to ULP which was our saviour. Bought in PLP to compensate for Super ,now we have to get rid of ULP for E10,why . Isnt ULP a good thing and why not keep it for the cars that dont use it or have trouble running it. I dont know if it is me but there is a patten I think.
Cheers Craig
My former car that I recently lost in an accident was consuming 10.5L/100km of 98 octanes unleaded petrol. I used this fuel for the last 16 years due to its performance and efficiency.
Following discussions with my wife and friends I gave the E10 a go for a month. The car started taking 12.7L/100km – almost 21% increase in fuel consumption. I think that the figure says it all. It is still cheaper to run on premium (“Ultimate” or “Optimax”) than on E10.
In addition blending petrol with ethanol causes the mixture to absorb water. While it is not possible to dissolve water in pure petrol, the ethanol mixtures allow for this. Engines will corrode and subsequently fail.
There is a huge problem in Europe, specifically in poorer countries, where station owners add water to petrol making significant gains from sale. There is no guarantee that it will not happen here – I think it is already happening.
1) I won’t load E10.
2) I will switch to premium 98
3) I shall NOT vote for labor anymore…
4) I shall NOT vote for greens…
NSW, The most retarded State I’ve ever lived in.
I find that I use approximately 10% more E10 compared to standard unleaded. As the price difference isn’t anywhere near 10% (say 13 cents) it costs me more, and I effectively end up using the same amount of unleaded fuel via the E10 mix.
Without achieving near equivalent fuel economy the extra energy to produce the ethanol is just needlessly contributing to global warming – is this a ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ but now no-one wants to admit it failed to deliver.
I certainly will be paying the extra for unleaded, it may tighten the budget but my previous car I test ran for a month on E10 and I was filling up twice a week, spent more money and waisted more time because I had to go back to the station again. My current car I can get to QLD on one 61L tank of 91 unleaded, I’m not making the E10 mistake twice.
To those who are concerned about the higher price of 95/98 Octane – I run a 6 Cyl Commodore 2001 model. I used to use 91 unleaded until it was out of stock and I filled up on 98. The cost of an full tank was only $7.80 more than the 91. For the money, I got better kms out of a tank and the motor ran much smoother. So all in all, it’s not that big of a stretch, particularly for the benefits.
as we are motor car enthusiusts 30 to 40 models we will not be putting any of this stuff in our cars we will pay extra to use the good fuel
No E10 for my cars ever. I, like the rest of Australia cannot afford to replace my motors when they corrode & stuff up from water fuel. Isn’t it amazing how the fuel companies rip the price up when crude goes up. For at least 12 months crude has been well under $100 per barrel ($ 80 to $90). According to the oil companies the crude $ per barrel dictated the cents per litre, ie $160 per barrel, $1.60 per litre. Why then have we not been paying .85 cents to .90 cents per litre when the price of crude dropped down so low. This Gov’t has a lot to answer for. Don’t worry, if the liberals were governing the situation would be EXACTLY THE SAME, & don’t let the liars tell you any difference. Same for the pacific highway. The liberal STATE gov’t was given the money in the early ’90′s to do the pacific highway from Hexam to the Qld border but Wendy Machin (re: head of the NRMA), nick greiner and wal murray decided that in the interests of lying to the people of NSW, by doing some freeways in Sydney then putting the rest into internal revenue we couldn’t complain when they were voted out of state gov’t about leaving the state in dept. The incoming gov’t had to then use what was left of this money to repair the pacific hwy instead of continuing on with finishing it. Think before you vote this March, is it better the devil you know or better to vote in the other forgotten state ripoffs???? One is as BAD AS THE OTHER..
This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen, my car only uses 98 premium being european, yet most jap cars are now using e10, which consumes more than regular fuels, therefore resulting in more money out of your pocket due to more fill ups, engines won’t be better maintained instead they will corrode and commit suicide earlier than usual.
What next? Ban premium fuel and use lpg and e10 only?
The only reason for the emission of fumes is the age of the car and the engine, older cars will obviously emit more along with high performance cars. Yet newer cars with moderately sized engines won’t emit as much, so why doesn’t the pretentious labour government keep to their word and help people rid of their old cars and make buying a new efficient car more affordable?
Phasing out certain fuels won’t do much. It’s too bias on certain usages.. A bid for money once again…
Tomorrow is Saturday 26 March 2011
State Election Day
Stand up
Send the message
Just more idiotic Government legisation I reckon, what is the point of ethanol blends if the energy result is the same as non ethanol??
Get your heads out of your arse’s Greeny wankers:>)
John
Someone would be better off having a diesel car or 4wd and make there own bio diesel in the back shed and getting the used cooking oil from the fish and chips shop and start making there own and there is someone that has a mitsabishi diesel van and has driven 250,000 km without any engine problems and it can be found on google
My experience has been similar to those above. E10 fuels reduce my cars fuel efficiency by about 10%. So the 10% ethanol in the fuel does nothing other than water down the fuel, reduce the cars efficency and possibly damage my engine. This does nothing to help the environment…
Looks like this is just another initiative from the green movement who it seems want to stop us from living comfortable lives and use “environmental fear” to take us back to the days of serfdom.
Notwithstanding E10′s poor performance as far as consumption and costs go, the appalling issue here is that consumers have again been robbed of choice. I also ride a motorcycle and was astonished last weekend when I had to visit no fewer than 8 servos in Sydney’s eastern suburbs before finding one that still sold 91 RON. I wonder how long that’ll last anyway. My problem is I can’t use E10 for the bike (too dodgy for the engine) nor 95 RON as it is a denser fuel than 91 and makes the old girl run too rich which results in fouled plugs, poor idle, crabby take offs and sluggish overall performance.
Not unusually or unsurprisingly the words money, rip-off, higher costs etc are a common denominator throughout this topic. Voting one way or another at elections is fruitless when essentially Govts are only wolves from different packs barely disguised by sheep’s clothing. Govts and corporations only care for one thing – dollars. That’s what we, collectively, have to target, or rather their ability to extract them from us..
Perhaps, our friendly motoring body, the NRMA, could assist with the campaign logistics of a series of petrol buying bans to be effected as motorists’ last stand. I am sure that the loss of revenue from tens of thousands of motorists across the country (or the state) all refusing to buy petrol on the same day would make a difference to the monthly balance sheet for both Govt and oil Co’s. It would also deliver a strong message about consumers (motorists) still holding the balance of power, not the other way round.
Come on Aussies, no more fence-sitting – let’s fight back to save our hard-earned cash!
ive been using e10 in my import, seen performance and power gains, dont know where your getting your loses from, try tuning your car! the fuel burns better and is more healthier for your engine
“who killed the electric car?” is a very good documentary. Governments dont care about the environment its all about money and control
ive had my 1994 Ford Fairmont EF Ghia 4.0L IL6 CYL running on 98ron octane rating fuels all its life but i did try to run regular unleaded in it and the car ran so bad i had lost 400km out of a tank when i filled up with regular unleaded i checked the trip computer and it said like 537km till empty and i was shocked at how bad it was i will never use regular unleaded again i only used it once but then when i switched back to 98ron octane rating i was suprised that i could now get close to 930km out of a tank and i was really impresed that a car as old as mine is can get up to 930k’s out of a tank its the best running car of this model and series around today not to mention the best looking since ive done the interior added new full leather seats more woodgrain, chrome door handles, the works but everysingle thing on it is still the origional yes everything apart from the oil filter and air filter all the seals and things are in perfect shape and because it is a computerised 6 cylford say it puts out around 157kw of power but the other day i wanted to see how much power it really had and i was quite suprised that it had 182.7kw of power and yet ford also say it takes 8.8seconds to get from 0-100km/h and i can get from 0-100km/h in 6.9seconds i recomend run your car on premium unleaded only 98ron only i did find out that 95ron actuley is worse for your car aca did a fuel test watch it you will be suprised on how bad and un economical 95ron is
My boat motor can’t take the E10 or premium, so i have no idea what I’m going to do.
Hi Matt
The Government has exempted marinas from the requirement so you’ll still be able to get fuel without ethanol.
Cheers
Jack
E10 over time will damage all car engines. Even if they tell you your new car can accept E10 don’t risk it. The engine performance will be poor too. The government will end up with a huge car yard of unwanted damaged cars if they don’t stop this fiasco. I blame the damn Greens mostly! Their stupid ideas. E10 can never get rid of all the water in it, and as we know … water is not good for an engine.
I have seen engines taken apart which have used e10 the cylinders and pistons are BURNT this happens often too.
What do you put in your motorbike ?
What do you put in your lawnmower?
98 octane is too high
E10 burns your engine
This is stupid riding the bike is less fuel consumption yet now we can’t do that either!
And to whoever is talking about tuning your car,,, there is no such thing any more that is points and carburetor days which are long gone…..