UK/Europe vs US fuel

[Zach Gomulka]

What is the difference between the fuel you get in the states versus the fuel you get in Europe? Better quality? More octane? Or does it just cost more? I always hear about guys getting away with more compression in Europe than they do here, what's the deal??

[volkskris]

I believe the 91 in cali equals 94 in europe. here in belgium 98 is available and in Germany sometimes 100(not shure) 

[Torben Alstrup]

Hello
Kris is right, or very close to. The rating is different ROZ versus RON That´s why you cannot compare directly. But there is a little more to it than that. The fact that we nowadays have fuel blended with ethanol of slightly varying quality and origin, the behaviure of the fuel is not directly compatible even if we take the 3 digits into consideration. But its close enough for "normal" people.
The Ca fuel is slight under the 3 digits. fuel in most other areas in the us is closer to a direct 3 comparison.

Yes over here we can get 98, 99 and in Germany 100 octane fuel. I believe our rating is RON, but I´m always uncertain without checking.
T

[speedwell]

95 octane it's called Eurosuper 95  and price is 1,5380€  , the 98 octane is called v-power or Eurosuper 98 price is 1,5620 €

[Paul Bate]

Hello Zach,

Most common fuel stations deliver 95 octane which relate to the higher value RON and don't take into account the lower MON rating.

If you were to directly compare with the US you would need to add RON+MON/2 which would actually work out to 95+86/2 = 90.5 Octane.

My high compression motor is happy to run on this fuel !

The Uk's Shell V Power 98 Octane is the highest quality available with a Ron 98 & Mon 87.5 therefore giving 98+87.5/2 = 92.75 Octane

So in essence we really don't have a fuel with that much more octane although you can shop around and get the Shell V power.


All the best Paul

[Fast Bug]

Euro pump gas is RON/ROZ (ROZ is German)

US pump gas is PON/AKI = (RON+MON/2)

(US pump gas) multiplied by 1.044 is approx (Euro pump gas)

[Zach Gomulka]

So in short, can you run more compression on the fuel you can get in Europe? Within reason, of course. Or is it more complicated than that?

[Paul Bate]

Hello Zach,

Well if you run the Shell V Power then you will be able too, but not on the regular fuel !!!

Also in the US if it's true isn't race fuel widely available, I've heard you can get if from some normal fuel stations, sorry if I've been miss informed.

Tax laws on fuel in the UK also prohibit the use of race fuel on the road, so realistically if you want a 'TRUE' street car then make sure it can run on the 90.5 octane.

Regards

Paul

[Udo]

Aral in Germany has now 102 oktan . the shell V-power is the best i ever had , very clean intake valves and chamber

Udo

[Steve G]

Shell Optimax was 98 octane, when it ws re branded as V-Power it became 99RON.
I think this was done shortly after Tesco introduced their 99 octane fuel.

[BeetleBug]

Shell Optimax was 98 octane, when it ws re branded as V-Power it became 99RON.
I think this was done shortly after Tesco introduced their 99 octane fuel.

Correct. Not sure about the Tesco thing though. But it is a very good fuel.

[Jesse/DVK]

Here in the Netherlands V-Power from Shell is RON 95. Only fuelstation that sells RON 98 is BP and some no name fuelstations.

There was a program on the Dutch television about V-power, it's the same thing as their normal EURO 95 they only add a liter of additative to 10.000 liters at the fuel stations!

[gator_push]

Here in the Netherlands V-Power from Shell is RON 95. Only fuelstation that sells RON 98 is BP and some no name fuelstations.

There was a program on the Dutch television about V-power, it's the same thing as their normal EURO 95 they only add a liter of additative to 10.000 liters at the fuel stations!

Ran out of V-Power Racing (100 Octane) several times after I had missed to replenish my stocks in Germany. Thanks to Udo for keeping up the fuel supply chain to NL! 

[neil68]

I looked into this with some ExxonMobil-Esso colleagues, as I used to do contract work with them:

Euro RON 98 = 94 North America CLC/AKI

All the others are also 4 points apart when rounded to the nearest whole number:  ie. Euro 95 = 91 NA, Euro 91 = 87 NA, etc.

[Paul Bate]

Hello Neil,

You can't just take the Ron and take away 4 points, you need to take into consideration the MON rating. On that basis your saying that the UK blend of Shell V-Power is Ron of 98 giving 94 America CLC/AKI rating!

When it's actually 92.75! This also can vary slightly depending on the time of year and the blend. I looked into this a lot over the last 6yrs as I was running a small shot of NOS on pump fuel and later blending.

Kind regards

Paul

[Zach Gomulka]

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful

[tonybone]

Talking to shell directly their V power is the cleanest of the fuel available as Udo mentioned, as it gives a very clean burn.

The reason for this is that this fuel is not actually blended from the source as a liquid.. it originates from GAS and it then goes through a process called GTL or Gas to Liquid. Its expensive to do this process and thus why we pay a little more at the pump, but Im all for clean valves and cylinders in my 2276.

Just a note that Shells V power diesel is also made via the GTL process. Im running a Diesel To#¤ta Fortuner 4x4 for my day time transport and it has very low smoke on full power as apposed to regular process fuels. I get more Miles per gallon too.!

[StrokerMcDell]

So do octane boost additives like Millers Turbo CVL work then ?

They claim to add 2/3 octane points ?