The Great American Gas Swindle Revisited

I had another rather grumpy commenter drop a line on this vintage posting: The Great American Gas Swindle.

Unfortunately, he hadn't read the follow-up, Taking a Spin in the No-Fact Zone, which addressed the issue he and another commenter had raised regarding some of the facts [All of the facts, actually - Editorial Bear] I'd mentioned.

The issue they were discussing was the difference between European and American petrol.

I had quite reasonably assumed (based on the numbers on the pumps and a misleading Wikipedia entry) that the gasoline sold in America was of an inferior 'Octane Rating' than the petrol sold in the UK and mainland Europe.

Specifically that American gas is sold in Regular (87 Octane) Premium (89 Octane) and Super (91 Octane) varieties - all of which seem inferior to European petrol, which is sold at 94 Octane (Unleaded) or 98 Octane (Super Unleaded.)

The 'Octane' rating references the 'knock resistance' of an engine, or the likelyhood of 'Auto Ignition' which could cause 'knocking' or 'pinking.' That's the rattle in the engine that indicates the fuel is igniting early and causing your pistons to fire out of sequence (damaging your engine.)

Based on my previous information, it's very simple to assume that American petrol had a lower Octane rating (and was of inferior quality) to European fuel.

However, I have been informed that America and Europe have different ratings systems to determine the Octane Rating of their fuel. The Europeans (and most of the rest of the world) use the Research Octane Number (RON) to determine the Octane Rating.

The Americans and Canadians apparently use a measuring system called Motor Octane Number (MON) or the aviation lean octane rating - which is a similar, but more stringent test using pre-warmed fuel and variable ignition times to deliver an accurate Octane rating based on more demanding criteria.

Because the MON test is 'harder,' the Octane Ratings derived that way tend to be about 4 or 5 points lower than the equivalent European RON tests. Therefore, 89 Octane American fuel (sold as 'Premium') would actually be equivalent to regular 94 Octane Unleaded sold from European pumps.

So when it comes down to it, European and American fuel is actually pretty much the same stuff... Or is it?

There's one more important factor to consider. Across much of the United States (mandated by law in some States) the oil-based fuel sold in petrol stations is actually mixed with 10% corn-based ethanol.

This increasingly common trend is intended to help reduce America's reliance on foreign oil - and the percentage of ethanol mixed in with regular petrol will only increase as technology helps close the net energy unbalance of producing corn-based fuel.

One thing to remember about corn-ethanol based fuels is that they're about 35% less efficient than regular petroleum. Therefore, even the 10% mix in American petrol is enough to reduce your overall fuel consumption.

So while I might have been wrong about the RON and MON ratings, it's still worth remembering that what goes into your tank in America still won't get you as far as it will in Europe (and that's ignoring that fact that your American car only does 15mpg!)

Taking a Spin in the No-Fact Zone

BEFORE you angrily leave a comment - read a follow-up posting here...

Clearly following in the footsteps of Bill O'Reilly and other ill informed political pundits, my rant on the Great American Gas Swindle had a couple of inconsistencies readers of this blog pointed out.

For example, I wrote: "American car manufacturers boast about getting 'an incredible 25mpg' while in Europe our mid-sized cars effortlessly deliver 40mpg."

My father very wisely pointed out a problem with my theory - a significant difference between the US gallon (3.750 litres), and the UK gallon (4.546 litres). The mid-sized car that effortlessly delivered 40mpg in England would only do 33 mpg by American standards.

An anonymous contributor also took exception when I wrote: "European unleaded is 95 Octane... ...Regular American gasoline is a mere 87 Octane...."

According to a website they linked to, Octane Explained, there is a difference in the way Americans and Europeans measure octane ratings, too. The RON and MON ratings are significantly different so British petrol rated at 96 octane via RON would only be considered 92 octane on American gas pumps - our anonymous friend said: "American [Super] 93 is the equivalent of European 97, for example."

He also pointed out that some cars (he gave the example of a highly tuned Honda V6) run more efficiently on lower octane fuel. That might well be true - although my Lincoln and my parent's friend's Jaguar V12 both seem to purr more smoothly - and drink less - on 'the good stuff.'

Now I had actually done some research into this - the almighty Wikipedia (which is written by the ill-educated likes of me, I should remind you) explicitly states that: "octane ratings are higher in Europe than they are in North America and most other parts of the world."

Which seems to support my original comments.

I guess further research is needed - or if you're a fan of Bill O'Reilly, just go with what you think is the 'truthiness' - what you know intuitively, "from the gut," without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts.

After all, that's what many of us bloggers rely on instead of research!

With thanks to my father and my anonymous commenter.