Have they done something to diesel??

[Robertb]

A friend commented the other day that he's noticed the MPG on his diesel Skoda has dropped, and I found recently that the MPG on my wife's Discovery Sport was lower than normal for my commute.

Have the fuel companies done something to Diesel in light of the fuel shortages, eg cut some bioethanol or somesuch into it?

[georgeyboy12345]

Bioethanol is added to petrol, not diesel.

UK standard for diesel is B7, which I think means they are only allowed to blend max 7% biodiesel in.

It’s probably coincidence or a case of observational bias - i.e. because fuel costs are higher you are now paying more attention your mpg readouts and they are not as good as you originally thought they were.

[DonkeyApple]

Diesel mpg should improve after mid March as kerosene stops being added for the winter mix. Plus, warmer, drier conditions usually favour better economy.

But people change their driving styles when prices increase and the new way of driving isn't guaranteed to be more efficient.

[Robertb]

Ah ok... reassuring they can't mess with it too much! This morning for example it did 29.7 where normally it would show 33 pretty consistently. It did do a regen I think, which might make a difference.

[Screenwash]

Down here in ANZ people are also experiencing higher fuel consumption. Word is that there is added sulphur in the diesel…

[DonkeyApple]

Screenwash said:

Down here in ANZ people are also experiencing higher fuel consumption. Word is that there is added sulphur in the diesel

It won't be added sulphur but possibly a governmental relaxation on the amount of sulphur that needs to be removed from the oil in the refining process. It can be done to help reduce fuel costs and when low sulphur oil markets are disrupted.

This may be plausible in ANZ as they're on the brunt end of Trump's oil disruption to Asia but the normal removal of sulphur from oil reduces efficiency so if it's being left in you'd expect to see an increase in mpg.

[ARH]

Robertb said:

Ah ok... reassuring they can't mess with it too much! This morning for example it did 29.7 where normally it would show 33 pretty consistently. It did do a regen I think, which might make a difference.

In my diesels a regen makes a good 5 - 8% difference to MPG, for a few miles.

[Megaflow]

Screenwash said:

Down here in ANZ people are also experiencing higher fuel consumption. Word is that there is added sulphur in the diesel

They possibly might have done, but in Europe that would swiftly see all of the aftertreatment systems destroyed with the excessive sulphur. This statement assumes ANZ road emissions standards are as relaxed as off highway and you don't have DPF & SCR for on highway diesel.

[heebeegeetee]

Here's a thing - my motorhome is significantly more economical in Blighty than in Europe, ie 20-30% more mpg. However I note the comment above re kerosene and obvs Europe is colder.
We're off to Prague and Poland next month, I'll check it again.

[Pica-Pica]

I tanked up at the start of the price increases. With a long trip I kept to 58mph on Mways and D/C, and got 58mpg instead of my usual 44 mpg (335d x-drive). So, no, I haven't noticed any issue with diesel quality. That was about 380 miles and just over half a tank. I filled up yesterday at £1.89 ppl.

[Richard-390a0]

Rather boringly I've been recording my fuel consumption for the last ten years I've had my diesel A3 commuter (221 fuel ups totalling £10939.88p!) & the mpg dips v.slightly in winter & then improves as the weather warms again. If anything it has improved earlier than usual this year as people have changed their driving style on my m'way commute so it's smoothed out the flow of traffic. (I'm using the fuelly app to record it all if anyone is interested).

[Sixpackpert]

Pica-Pica said:

I kept to 58mph on Mways

Seriously?!?

[Clad-Hach]

The fuel companies switch to winter diesel which gives lower MPG it could still be on the go.

All diesel fuel has to meet the B7 standard so I can't see anyone tampering with it, more to the point why chance it when you would get sued for clogging up all the DPF's with sub standard dirty fuel.

My van had done between 40-45mpg for the last six years, its not changed.

Edited by Clad-Hach on Wednesday 22 April 10:06

[Collectingbrass]

Check your tyre pressures and see whether the AC is working harder.

[DonkeyApple]

Sixpackpert said:

Pica-Pica said:

I kept to 58mph on Mways

Seriously?!?

No harm in that so long as not in anyone's way. It's not as if motorways are exciting roads for stretching a car's legs and plenty of folks would prefer to piss their money away on other luxuries.

The only issue is when someone decides to deliberately hold up others and rob them of their freedoms by sitting in the wrong lane.

[georgeyboy12345]

Robertb said:

Ah ok... reassuring they can't mess with it too much! This morning for example it did 29.7 where normally it would show 33 pretty consistently. It did do a regen I think, which might make a difference.

It absolutely will make a difference! This is the most likely reason for the mpg drop

[georgeyboy12345]

DonkeyApple said:

Sixpackpert said:

Pica-Pica said:

I kept to 58mph on Mways

Seriously?!?

No harm in that so long as not in anyone's way. It's not as if motorways are exciting roads for stretching a car's legs and plenty of folks would prefer to piss their money away on other luxuries.

The only issue is when someone decides to deliberately hold up others and rob them of their freedoms by sitting in the wrong lane.

At 58 mph won’t he be holding up lorries in lane 1 on the motorway that will want to cruise at 60 mph?

[myvision]

heebeegeetee said:

Here's a thing - my motorhome is significantly more economical in Blighty than in Europe, ie 20-30% more mpg. However I note the comment above re kerosene and obvs Europe is colder.
We're off to Prague and Poland next month, I'll check it again.

Really?
My motorbike got significantly better MPG in France than the UK so much so i commented to my Parents who were in France at the same time in a diesel discovery and they said the same and that it was a significant improvement.

[Ian_SW]

myvision said:

heebeegeetee said:

Here's a thing - my motorhome is significantly more economical in Blighty than in Europe, ie 20-30% more mpg. However I note the comment above re kerosene and obvs Europe is colder.
We're off to Prague and Poland next month, I'll check it again.

Really?
My motorbike got significantly better MPG in France than the UK so much so i commented to my Parents who were in France at the same time in a diesel discovery and they said the same and that it was a significant improvement.

I've also found got a bit better efficiency in Europe as well on equivalent driving, I think down to it generally being flatter and also the rolling resistance of the road surface being lower.

The easiest way to get significantly lower MPG though, particularly on French motorways is to make use of the higher speed limit. Crusing at 130kph, particularly in something with a large frontal area like a motorhome uses a lot more fuel than travelling at the lower speeds in the UK. A lot of the time on our congested motorways, even being able to do 70mph (110 ish kph) isn't possible. There's probably about a 30% increase in average speed on motorway trips in France compared to the UK which will be where the fuel goes.

[DonkeyApple]

georgeyboy12345 said:

At 58 mph won t he be holding up lorries in lane 1 on the motorway that will want to cruise at 60 mph?

Maybe so. The U.K. limit is 60 but an awful lot abide by the EU 90kmh. But there's not much mileage in immediately leaping to the conclusion that someone choosing to drive at 58 is manifestly evil before investigating further.