[NSW] Thoughts on Regular ULP ban?

[Chris259]

Although me myself dont buy PULP quite often, was wondering about the general response in regard to the ban. At the moment its only for NSW and whether it reaches other states I'm not quite sure. To me this just looks like another profit making scheme by the government as it will be easier to fluctuate the prices of 98RON since its the only option for owners with Europeans and pre-1970 vehicles.

Source : The real cost of dumping regular unleaded

[The_Hawk]

PULP Ban? Did I miss something in that article? Or something about a ban? They are talking about not carrying "normal" 91 fuel and only E10, 95 and 98 (for the moment) .... right?

Personally I have only ever run 98 in my petrol cars since way back when because while it may cost a little more you tend to go a little further roughly equaling out anyway. (and all the other better/cleaner fuel things are nice too). It's sort of annoying that the news and papers only seem to talk about the cheapest fuel rather than the one a growing percentage of us really use... especially those with newer (and older) cars.

One thing that was interesting to note was the talk about emissions:

The other point lost in this debate is the miniscule reduction in emissions. Litre per litre, ethanol produces about 37 per cent less C02 tailpipe emissions than regular unleaded - 1.51kg per litre compared to 2.39kg per litre.

But you need to burn more ethanol blended fuel to travel the same distance as a car using regular or premium unleaded.

Science tells us that ethanol burns 34 per cent faster than regular unleaded - which means the net benefit at the tailpipe is diminished.

Now is that I burn 34% more fuel... or 10% of my fuel burns 34% faster meaning I'm really burning maybe 4% more fuel?




I'd love to see more competition in that space, but then I'm not holding my breath either.

[Chris259]

PULP Ban? Did I miss something in that article? Or something about a ban? They are talking about not carrying "normal" 91 fuel and only E10, 95 and 98 (for the moment) .... right?

Just to clarify, they are getting rid of the 95, not the 98. Sorry If i caused a confusion :\

[team_v]

I know in QLD they have done something funny where petrol stations were limited in what they could sell os they ditched regular (91) and kept diesel, 95, 98 and e10.

Since then people haven't jumped on e10 and some are going back to offering 91.

The annoying thing is that they don't make lawnmowers run on 95/98 so win a way we need 91.
Also for the older cars out there that run on 91 it is pointless upgrading to 95 if the car isn't tuned for it.

[The_Hawk]

I can't see anything in that article that actually says what they are getting rid of?

Like I said, I though NSW dumped 91 in favour of E10 but still kept 95 and 98. Are you suggesting that they are wanting to move to E10 and 98 only?

[Chris259]

I may have misinterpreted the article, but it seems that while it may not completely ban 95 per se, they may limit the availabilities of 95.

[woofy]

The annoying thing is that they don't make lawnmowers run on 95/98 so win a way we need 91.
Also for the older cars out there that run on 91 it is pointless upgrading to 95 if the car isn't tuned for it.

This is an odd thing to say, I've been running our lawnmower on min 95 for years and then 98 when I got an RS Octavia as I put some in the lawn mower container at the same time as filling up. Why wouldn't you be able to use it, the higher octane rating won't hurt it, lower octane is whats bad for engines. If anything the PULP is cleaner so you get less crap buildup in the carby.

[greasykitchen]

Also for the older cars out there that run on 91 it is pointless upgrading to 95 if the car isn't tuned for it.

I ran my Mk1 on 95 as it required a minimum of 91 RON but I had heard that 91 isn't always 91, but sometimes less. So I ran 95 to be safe. I had no problems.

I also ran my '72 Beetle on 95 sometimes - I recall once filling up at a BP and then noticing how much better it ran on 95.

Now it's all 98 in the Mk5

I was speaking to my mechanic the other day who said that fewer and fewer cars can take 91 these days.

[The_Hawk]

Another Article:

Petrol switch to leave 750,000 motorists out of pocket

Again, I'm reasonably sure this is simply the complete demise of 91 in favor of E10 leaving you with both 95 and 98 to choose from if you don't want ethanol.

[Blitzen]

This came out the other day. They are discontinuing 91RON, and going to E10. There is no discontinuation of 95RON. And who cares, for the pittsance that you pay extra at the pump for 95RON, you get better fuel economy for it, so you are cancelling out the extra price with better distance per tank.