Regular Unleaded banned from July '12

[MAD]

I've noticed that the price difference from 91 to e10 has reduced from the original 4cpl to now being only 2cpl. 4cpl barely covered the increased fuel consumption.

If there are fuel price cycles, why do 91/95&98 all go up/down at the same time? surely they don't empty and fill the tanks at the same time.

[eaona]

in my experiance ethanol fuel works good in older cars.
example hilux 4x4 with holden 202 cutting a load of fire wood a day about a 140 k return trip using standard ulp I would put $35 in and carry a drum behind the seat as I would occasionaly run out. changed to the mobil ethanol blend @.02c per litre cheaper in one week of putting the same $35 in a day went to servo tank would not hold $35. also on the ethanol I could advance the timing bout 6degree over regular ulp and a very noticable power increase engine ran just as smooth. go back to regular had to retard the timing big drop in economy. In the hilux with an old 202 holden ethanol was much better

[stevethepom]

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Fina...an_713133.html

Looks like they have come to their senses !

[Jim Goose]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-3...itched/3801768

Backflip with a twist.... amazing

Bowser backflip: NSW regular petrol ban ditched

Updated January 31, 2012 11:03:01
Petrol pumps Photo: NSW motorists will now be able to keep their petrol options open beyond July. (Nic MacBean: ABC)
Map: NSW

The New South Wales Government has backed down on a plan to ban regular unleaded petrol, a measure which had been intended to force motorists to switch to ethanol-blend fuel.

The ban had been due to come into force from July, but concerns had been raised that as many as 800,000 people could not use E10 petrol in their cars.

Under the plan they would have been forced to buy more expensive premium unleaded fuel instead.

The scheme was part of a wider plan to ensure that 6 per cent of all fuel sold in NSW contain ethanol, with that mandate still to go ahead.

Leaked documents emerged last week showing Energy Minister Chris Hartcher argued against the ban in Cabinet, based on two pieces of advice.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned the plan could drive up petrol prices, while the state's Solicitor-General argued it may be unconstitutional.

Premier Barry O'Farrell had previously argued the plan was good policy, but he now says Cabinet has decided otherwise.

"What Cabinet changed overnight, after listening to the community, was the policy put in place in 2007 that would have seen regular unleaded petrol no longer available from July 1 this year," Mr O'Farrell said.

"Cabinet decided motorists should have a choice, particularly at a time when so many families across the state are facing cost of living pressures."

Opposition Leader John Robertson was part of the former Labor government that initially hatched the plan with Coalition support in Parliament.

He has welcomed the backdown, but now insists the blame rests solely with Mr O'Farrell.

"The Premier tried to keep his plan to increase petrol prices a secret, and he deserves no congratulations for doing what he should have done months ago," Mr Robertson said.

"Motorists are going to feel some relief but Barry O'Farrell can certainly not claim any credit for this. This debacle has provided a new insight into Barry O'Farrell. He's happy to increase prices as long as he thinks no-one is going to find out."

[ivorya]

LOL..... U think they've come to their senses!!!!

Who is going to pay the servo's for the implementation of the E10 pumps?

That's right..... US!

Do you honestly think, (now think about it before you respond) that because you can now buy unleaded, it'll magically drop the prices of fuel?

LoL...

[castellan]

We all have to go to E10 because of the environmental problems with the unleaded fuel is that dangerous and deadly toxic.

So it's coming, end of story.

We will just have to get cars that run bad tuned to run E10.

I run E10 95 in my VY SS not a problem i would have to say it's better than unleaded 91 caltex any day and about the same as 91 BP i have not found it uses any more fuel with 95 E10 and i have proven it time and time again i set the cruise control at a set points on the highway.

When E10 first came out it was rubbish my car lacked power down low under 2200rpm and consumption was rubbish.

My cars tune is as was from new and it's stock std as a rock.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by castellan

We all have to go to E10 because of the environmental problems with the unleaded fuel is that dangerous and deadly toxic.

So it's coming, end of story.

Umm...it's still unleaded petrol, it's just watered down with another chemical thatmakes it less efficient and makes it burn more fuel...how is it still not "dangerous and deadly toxic"...? It's the exact same stuff, with a bit extra energy-negative fuel added to it.

Not to mention the growing awareness around the world of the problems with ethanol production...it can't and probably never will stand on its own two feet without huge taxpayer subsidies, you can't get the energy out that s put in for production of the end product (like hydrogen, it's an "energy negative" fuel), and vast areas of food production land...usually in poor countries...is being turned over to growing ethanol crops instead of food for thier people.
There's enquiries going on in the USA and other places at the moment as to whether it's actually all worth it...

[castellan]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Umm...it's still unleaded petrol, it's just watered down with another chemical thatmakes it less efficient and makes it burn more fuel...how is it still not "dangerous and deadly toxic"...? It's the exact same stuff, with a bit extra energy-negative fuel added to it.

Not to mention the growing awareness around the world of the problems with ethanol production...it can't and probably never will stand on its own two feet without huge taxpayer subsidies, you can't get the energy out that s put in for production of the end product (like hydrogen, it's an "energy negative" fuel), and vast areas of food production land...usually in poor countries...is being turned over to growing ethanol crops instead of food for thier people.
There's enquiries going on in the USA and other places at the moment as to whether it's actually all worth it...

Yes you are right.
But the stuff that's bad, and i can't think of the name
Has been taken out, in the USA it's baned and the ethanol does the job now in place of the toxic crap. The bad stuff poisons underground water and this stuff in the fuel is why you do not wash your hands in it, as it can get into your blood through your skin. maybe E10 is no where as bad as.
So in that sense E10 is more environmentally better.

We all know adding ethanol is not a mileage enhancer but me thinks E10 if it's at 95 it can be really not so bad economy wise depending on what engine you have, as like in the case of an engines computer if it is retarding the timing on 91 you are loosing fuel economy, because just like the vacuum advance on a dizzy it's only function is for fuel economy and a modern EFI can run on a lower grade fuel and it does this by retarding the timing and this has to be at the cost of using more fuel because the tune is not at it's optimum.

[blockhead83]

Originally Posted by castellan

Yes you are right.
But the stuff that's bad, and i can't think of the name
Has been taken out, in the USA it's baned and the ethanol does the job now in place of the toxic crap. The bad stuff poisons underground water and this stuff in the fuel is why you do not wash your hands in it, as it can get into your blood through your skin. maybe E10 is no where as bad as.
So in that sense E10 is more environmentally better.

We all know adding ethanol is not a mileage enhancer but me thinks E10 if it's at 95 it can be really not so bad economy wise depending on what engine you have, as like in the case of an engines computer if it is retarding the timing on 91 you are loosing fuel economy, because just like the vacuum advance on a dizzy it's only function is for fuel economy and a modern EFI can run on a lower grade fuel and it does this by retarding the timing and this has to be at the cost of using more fuel because the tune is not at it's optimum.

I think you are talking about Benzene, Putting ethanol in fuel has little to do with the amount of benzene in it. There are already government regulations regarding the percentage of benzene in gasoline which forced all major oil companies to invest heavily in "clean fuels" (building benzene reduction/removal units etc) in the last decade, specs for sulphur content in diesel and gasoline was also reduced at the time. Currently I believe the spec is 1% maximum benzene in fuel.

So other than the fact that putting 10% ethanol in fuel will reduce the volume of potentially Benzene containing material by 10% I think it would have a negligible effect.

In fact, I would guess that if at the time a company had some high benzene material that they wanted to get rid of they may take the opportunity to blend it with their E10 to bring the benzene percentage back up to 1%.

Fuel specs are like anything I suppose, if a company is allowed to have 1% benzene in something and it cost money to get rid of benzene then I would assume that every drop of fuel I put in my car, regardless of ethanol content (unless it was 100%) probably has around 1% benzene in it.

By the way the US has not banned benzene in fuel they have reduced the spec to .62%. A move which may be mirrored in Oz in the short to medium term, as well as a possible decrease in sulphur spec in gasoline.

I think ethanol is already having an impact on some countries food supplies, after all when Ethiopia was in famine for all those years it was largely to do with a lot of the arable food growing land being used to grow coffee to make a few people rich, not being used to grow food to feed people. I think perhaps the same thing could happen with ethanol as demand increases.

I've never tried ethanol fuel in my car as it has been tuned to 98 octane fuel, however I truely believe that we can do better things with the bread basket of this and other countries than grow FOOD that then gets processed into FUEL.